Visa (NYSE:V) Trading 0.8% Higher – What’s Next?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) rose 0.8% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $309.53 and last traded at $309.26. Approximately 1,391,473 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 5,465,913 shares. The stock had previously closed at $306.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $330.85.

Visa Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $575.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business’s 50 day moving average is $312.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $287.32.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. Visa’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $218,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 21,482 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,638,000 after acquiring an additional 2,128 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 81,315 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $21,343,000 after purchasing an additional 3,595 shares during the last quarter. Fairfield Financial Advisors LTD bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,041,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its holdings in Visa by 8.4% during the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $221,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.