Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Acquires 6,961 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa Inc. by 22.1%, acquiring an additional 6,961 shares, bringing their total ownership to 38,458 shares valued at approximately $13.48 million.
• Visa reported a net margin of 52.86% and a 9.3% year-over-year revenue growth, with earnings per share for the quarter at $2.76, exceeding estimates by $0.08.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, representing an annualized yield of 0.67%, with a payout ratio of 23.72%.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 22.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,458 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after buying an additional 6,961 shares during the period. Visa comprises 0.9% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $13,478,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 38,416.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,173,271,000 after purchasing an additional 14,723,050 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $673,689,000. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $623,022,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:V opened at $354.30 on Friday. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $653.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $356.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $344.69.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.51 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total transaction of $17,099,180.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,772,810. This trade represents a 63.63% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200 over the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on V shares. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Macquarie dropped their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $375.52.

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.

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