Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. Boosts Position in Visa Inc. $V

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 38.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 105,179 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 29,124 shares during the period. Visa comprises 2.6% of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Visa were worth $31,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,038,140,000 after buying an additional 626,821 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,411,395,000 after buying an additional 388,996 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $14,411,480,000 after buying an additional 716,218 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,835,336 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,359,291,000 after buying an additional 398,459 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975 over the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on V. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $387.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 target price for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.36.

Visa Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE V opened at $361.25 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $335.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $325.05. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $365.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $648.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.75.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.76 earnings per share. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.34%.

Visa Profile

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.