Brown Advisory Inc. Has $2.32 Billion Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Brown Advisory Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,347,416 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 511,352 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for approximately 2.9% of Brown Advisory Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Brown Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $2,322,078,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $50,378,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,079,706 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $12,729,901,000 after acquiring an additional 1,689,926 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $7,526,660,000 after acquiring an additional 866,596 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $7,356,614,000 after acquiring an additional 241,057 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Visa by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE V opened at $347.66 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $337.61 and a 200-day moving average of $324.83. The stock has a market cap of $645.87 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.51 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.38.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $2,978,899.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $185,576.46. The trade was a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 154,400 shares of company stock valued at $52,711,258. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Visa 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.