Guggenheim Capital LLC Acquires 12,459 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 262,634 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,459 shares during the quarter. Visa accounts for about 0.7% of Guggenheim Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in Visa were worth $83,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on V shares. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued 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 $355.84.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,842,490 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $335.27 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $622.86 billion, a PE ratio of 33.80, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $342.12 and a 200-day moving average of $319.51. Visa Inc. has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

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.