Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Down 1.2% – Here’s What Happened

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price was down 1.2% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $345.52 and last traded at $345.82. Approximately 1,702,617 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 6,684,967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $349.86.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on V. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group raised their price target on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Visa Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $637.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $343.15 and its 200-day moving average is $314.66.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC lifted its position in Visa by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $297,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Visa by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $928,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,292,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.