Visa (NYSE:V) Rating Increased to Buy at Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Visa (NYSE:V) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on V. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup decreased their price target on Visa from $450.00 to $400.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Weiss Ratings raised Visa from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and nineteen have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $399.41.

Visa Stock Performance

V opened at $362.37 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $338.16 and its 200-day moving average is $325.18. The stock has a market cap of $650.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Visa has a twelve month low of $293.89 and a twelve month high of $365.14.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Visa will post 13.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. This represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Clayton Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 446.2% in the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp grew its stake in shares of Visa by 102.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 200.0% in the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.