Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-nine analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-four have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $324.74.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $317.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Macquarie boosted their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Visa Stock Up 0.5 %

V opened at $313.83 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $297.08 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $280.24. The company has a market capitalization of $584.62 billion, a PE ratio of 32.25, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.96. Visa has a 1-year low of $252.70 and a 1-year high of $317.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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, 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 company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.33 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Visa will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 24.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Visa by 970.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 211.9% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth about $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Company Profile

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.