GAM Holding AG Has $26.44 Million Stake in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

GAM Holding AG lifted its position in shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 83,671 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,077 shares during the period. Visa accounts for 2.0% of GAM Holding AG’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. GAM Holding AG’s holdings in Visa were worth $26,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its position in Visa by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter valued at about $31,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Visa Price Performance

Visa stock opened at $350.45 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $328.47 and its 200 day moving average is $301.39. Visa Inc. has a one year low of $252.70 and a one year high of $357.15. The firm has a market cap of $651.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447. 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.