Empire Life Investments Inc. Sells 22,265 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Empire Life Investments Inc. decreased its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 12.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 159,623 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 22,265 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 3.2% of Empire Life Investments Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Empire Life Investments Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $50,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,064,179,000 after buying an additional 3,327,977 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,518 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 7.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,601,135,000 after buying an additional 2,772,549 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,597,969 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,188,862,000 after buying an additional 123,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 6.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,522,445 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,168,096,000 after purchasing an additional 670,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of V opened at $353.73 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $325.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $299.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $657.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.66, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $252.70 and a 52 week high of $356.08.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price objective (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their price target on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Visa Profile

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.