GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Acquires Shares of 1,499 Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

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

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Navigoe LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at about $54,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 1.3%

NYSE:V traded up $4.48 on Friday, reaching $358.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,702,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,850,467. The firm has a market cap of $661.86 billion, a PE ratio of 36.05, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.92. The business's 50-day moving average price is $355.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $341.46. Visa Inc. has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on V shares. Mizuho raised Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, June 13th. Citigroup started coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $372.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 101,108 shares of company stock worth $36,771,200. Corporate 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.