Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Shares Sold by Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 29.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 701,414 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 287,851 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Visa were worth $245,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 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 valued at $12,729,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,926 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,356,614,000 after purchasing an additional 241,057 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Visa by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,171,271,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V traded down $0.99 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $354.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,882,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,551,461. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $653.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.92. The firm's 50 day moving average is $356.47 and its 200-day moving average is $344.69.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.51 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's payout ratio is 23.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $375.52.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200. Company 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.