Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Up 0.6% – Here’s Why

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price was up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $318.64 and last traded at $319.21. Approximately 1,678,028 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 5,364,677 shares. The stock had previously closed at $317.25.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.92.

Visa Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $596.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $313.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $288.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.33 earnings per share. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. 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 yield of 0.74%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 45,189.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,758,505 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,683,101,000 after buying an additional 9,736,958 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 4,412.3% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,072,467 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,119,725,000 after acquiring an additional 4,166,905 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Visa by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,977 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,518 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 38,655,250 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,601,135,000 after purchasing an additional 2,772,549 shares during the period. 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.