Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s share price was up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Monday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $319.00 to $347.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Visa traded as high as $293.15 and last traded at $292.31. Approximately 1,008,569 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 7,042,163 shares. The stock had previously closed at $290.74.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on V. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in V. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 970.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 211.9% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 52.9% in the 1st quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $534.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.15, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average of $281.92 and a 200-day moving average of $273.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

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.