Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Has $223.50 Million Holdings in Visa Inc. $V

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 654,682 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after selling 7,209 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Visa were worth $223,495,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Sonoma Allocations LLC bought a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $710,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,241,348 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $438,196,000 after purchasing an additional 21,401 shares in the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 95,150 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,783,000 after purchasing an additional 5,295 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $198,596,000 after buying an additional 14,581 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 24.1% during the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $281,045,000 after buying an additional 159,906 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total transaction of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,282,641.18. The trade was a 52.73% 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 insiders.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of Visa stock opened at $331.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $299.00 and a one year high of $375.51. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $338.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $340.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $604.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.79.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.14 by $0.03. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 10th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 25.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on V. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Daiwa Securities Group raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $411.00 target price (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $392.29.

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.