Apollon Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Visa Inc. $V

Apollon Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 72,056 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 3,160 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $21,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 867.6% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,880,595,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,762 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 29,706.3% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,216,310,000 after buying an additional 7,308,345 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 12,497.1% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,184,712,000 after buying an additional 3,351,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Visa by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,282,472,000 after buying an additional 2,116,463 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $397.96.

Visa Price Performance

NYSE V opened at $341.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $613.22 billion, a PE ratio of 29.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77. Visa Inc. has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $359.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $323.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $324.40.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Visa

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.