Wallington Asset Management LLC Has $19.41 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Wallington Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 64,223 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,379 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 2.6% of Wallington Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $19,411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its stake in Visa by 362.7% in the 1st quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 40,298 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $12,180,000 after buying an additional 31,589 shares during the last quarter. Lam Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth about $91,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 827,943 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $250,238,000 after acquiring an additional 33,025 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 29,706.3% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,216,310,000 after acquiring an additional 7,308,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kenora Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the first quarter. Kenora Financial LLC now owns 16,648 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,032,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Bank of America began coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $410.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Truist Financial set a $371.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $397.96.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Trading Up 1.7%

V stock opened at $341.86 on Tuesday. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $359.66. The stock has a market cap of $613.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $323.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $324.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.34%.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.