Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 198,497 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 22.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,095,778 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 198,497 shares during the period. Visa comprises about 0.8% of Cerity Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.06% of Visa worth $384,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Navigoe LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on V. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.84.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE:V traded down $8.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $347.71. The stock had a trading volume of 7,577,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,822,520. The stock has a market capitalization of $641.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $375.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $356.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.71.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Visa

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.