Diamant Asset Management Inc. Has $2.22 Billion Position in Visa Inc. $V

Key Points

• Diamant Asset Management massively boosted its Visa stake in Q1, increasing holdings by 29,706.3% to 7,332,947 shares worth about $2.22 billion. Visa now makes up roughly 7.3% of the fund’s portfolio and is its fifth-largest position.
• Visa reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $3.31 per share topping estimates and revenue rising 17.1% year over year to $11.23 billion. The company also noted a net margin of 51.68% and return on equity of 65.00%.
• The company recently announced a $20 billion share repurchase program and a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share, while analysts remain bullish with a consensus Buy rating and average price target of $397.96.

Diamant Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 29,706.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after acquiring an additional 7,308,345 shares during the period. Visa comprises approximately 7.3% of Diamant Asset Management Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Diamant Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.40% of Visa worth $2,216,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invariant Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares during the period. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its position in Visa by 4.7% during the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 527,530 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $180,088,000 after acquiring an additional 23,863 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its position in Visa by 30.1% during the fourth quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $10,143,000 after acquiring an additional 6,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ticino Wealth purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $1,837,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 1.7%

V stock opened at $341.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $293.89 and a 1-year high of $359.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $323.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $324.40. The company has a market capitalization of $613.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.78, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.76 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Visa announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding 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 usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James Financial reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $387.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an "outperform" rating and a $365.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $397.96.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of Visa stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

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.

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