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

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $303.76.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $273.62 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $273.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $272.71. Visa has a one year low of $224.98 and a one year high of $290.96. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $500.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.57, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Visa will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.24%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total value of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,959,322.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 34,402 shares of company stock worth $9,559,382. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Nadler Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $495,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Towerpoint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $216,000. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,427,000. Richelieu Gestion SA purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $307,000. Finally, Cooper Financial Group boosted its position in shares of Visa by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 7,926 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,064,000 after buying an additional 476 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.