Wallington Asset Management LLC Raises Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Wallington Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,280 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 1,023 shares during the quarter. Visa comprises about 3.8% of Wallington Asset Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Wallington Asset Management LLC's holdings in Visa were worth $26,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in V. Unionview LLC increased its position in Visa by 1.5% during the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $631,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Presilium Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Presilium Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,503 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $475,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. FWG Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, St. Louis Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the third quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 3,885 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,068,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on V. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Susquehanna upped their price target on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Monness Crespi & Hardt reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $331.92.

Visa Price Performance

V traded up $2.72 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $319.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,746,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,703,089. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $321.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business's 50-day moving average price is $313.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $288.73. The stock has a market cap of $596.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The business's revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Visa's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Visa's payout ratio is 24.25%.

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.