GDS Wealth Management Raises Stock Holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

GDS Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,314 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,396 shares during the quarter. GDS Wealth Management’s holdings in Visa were worth $7,632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in V. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Visa by 2,500.0% during the 4th quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 156 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. lifted its stake in Visa by 66.2% in the fourth quarter. Stuart Chaussee & Associates Inc. now owns 236 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Up 0.5 %

V stock traded up $1.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $278.71. The stock had a trading volume of 8,948,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,955,996. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $216.14 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $277.64 and a 200 day moving average of $266.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $509.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.12, a PEG ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.09 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on V. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $303.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.