Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Up 2.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) was up 2.1% on Wednesday after Seaport Res Ptn upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $316.42 and last traded at $315.72. Approximately 1,497,562 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 5,437,135 shares. The stock had previously closed at $309.09.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna upped their target price on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Visa from $311.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $360.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four research 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, West Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Visa by 101.4% during the third quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 2.1 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $312.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $287.65. The stock has a market cap of $587.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid 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 dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 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.