Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Up 0.3% – Here’s Why

by · The Markets Daily

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V – Get Free Report) was up 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $319.68 and last traded at $316.88. Approximately 1,176,572 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 6,913,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $316.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on V shares. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price objective for the company. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $328.41.

Read Our Latest Report on V

Visa Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $583.08 billion, a PE ratio of 32.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $308.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $285.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Visa (NYSE:V – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 685,355 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $179,885,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 2,024 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $531,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the period. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Visa by 9.2% in the second quarter. Acorn Financial Advisory Services Inc. ADV now owns 2,165 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. grew its holdings in Visa by 13.0% in the second quarter. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. now owns 1,093,654 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $287,051,000 after purchasing an additional 125,899 shares during the period. Finally, Allegheny Financial Group LTD increased its position in Visa by 12.5% during the second quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD now owns 3,094 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $812,000 after purchasing an additional 343 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Visa

(Get Free Report)

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.

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