Wesleyan Assurance Society Grows Stock Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wesleyan Assurance Society increased its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 15.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 66,585 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 8,955 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 1.7% of Wesleyan Assurance Society's holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Wesleyan Assurance Society's holdings in Visa were worth $23,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 38,416.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Visa by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $673,689,000. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $623,022,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $397.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "neutral" rating on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $375.52.

Visa Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE V traded up $1.10 on Tuesday, hitting $352.04. 4,612,992 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,786,416. The company's 50 day moving average price is $356.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $344.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $649.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.92. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 56.28% and a net margin of 52.86%. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is 23.72%.

About Visa

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.