Visa (NYSE:V) Trading 1.2% Higher on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) traded up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The company traded as high as $283.00 and last traded at $277.38. 2,823,646 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 5,834,916 shares. The stock had previously closed at $274.11.

The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.72% and a net margin of 53.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 EPS.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on V. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Visa from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday. Macquarie increased their price objective on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total value of $2,228,128.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the first quarter worth about $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 545.5% during the third quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC now owns 142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The company has a market capitalization of $505.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.74, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $279.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $264.05.

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.