Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty-one have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $367.48.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $362.77, for a total transaction of $3,127,077.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,807.49. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,546,299. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $368.04 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $344.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $334.72. Visa has a twelve month low of $252.70 and a twelve month high of $369.66. The stock has a market cap of $679.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.51 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Visa will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

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.