Visa (NYSE:V) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Visa (NYSE:V) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $362.38.

Visa Stock Up 0.9%

V stock opened at $355.89 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s 50 day moving average is $337.05 and its 200 day moving average is $327.84. The stock has a market cap of $661.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. Visa has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $366.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.51 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total transaction of $5,259,207.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,377,671.52. This trade represents a 35.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total value of $3,129,060.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $194,931. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 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.