Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Up 1.2% – Here’s Why

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price shot up 1.2% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $309.54 and last traded at $309.41. 856,733 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 7,025,599 shares. The stock had previously closed at $305.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $317.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Compass Point began coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price target on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.74.

Visa Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $561.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company’s 50 day moving average is $282.69 and its 200-day moving average is $274.20.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 21.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value 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 $148,687.06. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Strategy Asset Managers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 63.4% during the 3rd quarter. Strategy Asset Managers LLC now owns 7,140 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,963,000 after acquiring an additional 2,771 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 59.0% in the third quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 208,726 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $57,389,000 after purchasing an additional 77,457 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Visa by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its position in Visa by 11.1% in the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 299,610 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $82,466,000 after purchasing an additional 29,963 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Davis & CO. Inc. now owns 1,178 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $324,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

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.