Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Down 0.2% – Here’s Why

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s share price fell 0.2% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $348.50 and last traded at $348.83. 994,186 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 5,725,179 shares. The stock had previously closed at $349.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on V. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group upped 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. Macquarie lifted their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $354.73.

Visa Stock Up 0.2 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $321.08 and its 200-day moving average is $295.68. The company has a market capitalization of $647.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share 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, equities research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa during the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

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.