Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nineteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $302.58.

V has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays upped their price target on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, March 27th.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 2,591 shares in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 19,874 shares of company stock worth $5,506,827. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Visa by 4.0% during the first quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 18,371 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,125,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 21.2% during the first quarter. Cutter & CO Brokerage Inc. now owns 5,973 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,667,000 after buying an additional 1,043 shares during the last quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.0% during the first quarter. Granite Harbor Advisors Inc. now owns 1,722 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $481,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 123.3% during the first quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 1,219 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, North Star Investment Management Corp. grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 15.1% during the first quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp. now owns 3,603 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,005,000 after buying an additional 473 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Down 1.2 %

Visa stock opened at $268.64 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $278.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $265.19. The company has a market cap of $493.36 billion, a PE ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96. Visa has a fifty-two week low of $216.14 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.09 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

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.