Empowered Funds LLC Buys 38,101 Shares of Visa Inc. $V

Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 23.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 197,936 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 38,101 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $59,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. Clayton Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Visa by 446.2% during the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in shares of Visa by 102.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 200.0% during the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $362.37 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $338.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $325.18. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $365.14. The firm has a market cap of $650.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and nineteen have issued a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $399.41.

Visa Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.