Wesleyan Assurance Society Purchases 7,680 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wesleyan Assurance Society lifted its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 57,630 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after purchasing an additional 7,680 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises 1.4% of Wesleyan Assurance Society's holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Wesleyan Assurance Society's holdings in Visa were worth $18,229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in V. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $5,171,271,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 17,018.7% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,248,079,000 after acquiring an additional 3,926,049 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $194,931. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $367.76 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $339.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $330.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $678.58 billion, a PE ratio of 37.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $369.15.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Macquarie reduced their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $362.38.

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.

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