Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Buys 1,175 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 6.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,750 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 1,175 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $6,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in V. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,173,271,000 after purchasing an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,955,403,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after buying an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total value of $3,127,077.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $194,807.49. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 92,478 shares of company stock worth $33,717,733 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on V shares. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Macquarie reduced their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.84.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V traded down $2.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $352.55. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,881,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,858,967. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $354.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $340.57. The stock has a market cap of $650.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.44, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

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.