Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 29.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 701,414 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 287,851 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $245,818,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $355.22 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $356.62 and its 200-day moving average is $344.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $655.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.51 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on V. Macquarie reduced their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Five equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $375.52.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,121,041.50. This trade represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.