GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Takes Position in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,499 shares of the credit-card processor's stock, valued at approximately $525,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,171,271,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 38,416.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,761,375 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,173,271,000 after acquiring an additional 14,723,050 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $50,378,465,000 after acquiring an additional 7,079,706 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,955,403,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Visa by 18.0% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 46,214 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $370.00, for a total value of $17,099,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,772,810. This represents a 63.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total value of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. This represents a 17.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 101,108 shares of company stock valued at $36,771,200 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V traded down $1.49 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $355.15. 2,304,548 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,826,146. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $356.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.92. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $252.70 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $655.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.92.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.86% and a return on equity of 56.28%. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on V. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. William Blair reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "neutral" rating on the stock. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.84.

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.