Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 22,160,000 shares, an increase of 21.3% from the August 15th total of 18,270,000 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 8,620,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Visa Stock Performance

Visa stock traded up $1.98 during trading on Friday, reaching $287.35. The company had a trading volume of 4,987,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,773,412. The firm has a market capitalization of $523.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $268.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.24. Visa has a 52 week low of $227.78 and a 52 week high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The firm had revenue of $8.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on V shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Visa from $322.00 to $319.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. William Blair raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Visa from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $309.81.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of V. Brio Consultants LLC increased its stake in Visa by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Brio Consultants LLC now owns 1,555 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 5,629 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,802 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $730,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. 9258 Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 20.8% in the fourth quarter. 9258 Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,043 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,094,000 after buying an additional 1,387 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 53.8% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 13,640 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,282,000 after buying an additional 4,774 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.