Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 344 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,278 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 344 shares during the period. Visa accounts for about 1.6% of Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $17,786,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of V. Riverstone Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $217,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 9,678 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361 shares during the period. King Wealth Management Group increased its stake in shares of Visa by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. King Wealth Management Group now owns 74,874 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $23,663,000 after acquiring an additional 6,172 shares in the last quarter. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,163,000. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at about $616,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of V opened at $349.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $649.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.26, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $343.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $314.66. Visa Inc. has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $366.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. William Blair reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group upped their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price objective (up from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.41, for a total value of $13,395,133.50. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,991,249.33. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,560,961. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.