Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Purchased by Essex Financial Services Inc.

Essex Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,963 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 483 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $5,979,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $37,000. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 66.2% during the fourth quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 236 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Life Planning Partners Inc bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $71,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V traded up $0.93 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $269.54. 2,632,666 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,894,127. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $278.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $265.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $495.01 billion, a PE ratio of 30.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.96. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $216.14 and a 12 month high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,874 shares of company stock worth $5,506,827 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Susquehanna upped their price target 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. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $307.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $302.58.

Visa Company 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.