Visa Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:V)

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 33,249 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 44% compared to the average volume of 23,047 call options.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total value of $3,575,385.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $183,117. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,175,152 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,185,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Transcendent Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 2.9% during the second quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 1.6% during the third quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $640,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Old Port Advisors boosted its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the third quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 3,423 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,169,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Interchange Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 0.5% in the second quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,413 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on V. Evercore ISI set a $380.00 target price on Visa in a report on Friday. Bank of America upgraded Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $402.52.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $347.83 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $337.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $345.34. Visa has a twelve month low of $299.00 and a twelve month high of $375.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $633.65 billion, a PE ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.82.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The company had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Visa will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.25%.

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.