Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.3% – Should You Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) was up 0.3% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $314.04 and last traded at $312.74. Approximately 5,160,734 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 2% from the average daily volume of 5,266,279 shares. The stock had previously closed at $311.67.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on V shares. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $317.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $330.85.

Visa Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $311.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $286.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $582.60 billion, a PE ratio of 32.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm earned $2.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.59 dividend. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.25%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related 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 sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. This trade represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was 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. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cumberland Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Legacy Private Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 49.6% in the 4th quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co. now owns 13,728 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $4,339,000 after purchasing an additional 4,550 shares during the period. Worth Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Worth Asset Management LLC now owns 2,003 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Sterneck Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $248,000. Finally, Innova Wealth Partners acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $311,000. 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.