GDS Wealth Management Buys 2,874 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

GDS Wealth Management lifted its stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 45,318 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,874 shares during the period. GDS Wealth Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $14,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth about $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 101.4% in the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock opened at $349.27 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $319.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $650.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $252.70 and a 12-month high of $351.25.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $2,930,800.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,983 shares of company stock valued at $7,213,146. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $354.73.

Visa Company 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.