Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.3%

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) were up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $278.55 and last traded at $277.17. Approximately 1,023,532 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 5,830,328 shares. The stock had previously closed at $276.46.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the subject of a number of research reports. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price objective for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $303.00.

Visa Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $277.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $266.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The company has a market cap of $511.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the 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 transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in Visa in the third quarter worth about $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 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.