Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Acquires 571 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. raised its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,644 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 571 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 0.5% of Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,594,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. GoalVest Advisory LLC grew its position in Visa by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Visa by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. grew its position in Visa by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Sunflower Bank N.A. now owns 3,143 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $818,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP grew its position in Visa by 18.4% in the second quarter. HWG Holdings LP now owns 270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parker Financial LLC grew its position in Visa by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Parker Financial LLC now owns 925 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on V. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Wedbush lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $270.00 to $280.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $307.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.82.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,511 shares of company stock worth $15,131,081. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $274.40 on Thursday. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $216.14 and a twelve month high of $290.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $280.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $261.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $503.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.18 EPS. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.94%.

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.