Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor Takes $150.18 Million Position in Visa Inc. $V

Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor purchased a new position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 437,724 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock, valued at approximately $150,179,000. Visa accounts for 1.2% of Diamond Hill Capital Management LLC Investment Advisor’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of V. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 200.0% during the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. RHL Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Timmons Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Copos Capital S.a r.l. bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on V. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $406.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $416.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $413.58.

Visa Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE V opened at $363.91 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $349.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $328.29. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $293.89 and a one year high of $373.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $649.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.98 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 22.79%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. The trade was a 40.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779 in the last quarter. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Company 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.