BNP Paribas Exane Upgrades Visa (NYSE:V) to Strong-Buy

Visa (NYSE:V) was upgraded by equities researchers at BNP Paribas Exane to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Loop Capital began coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target for the company. Clear Str raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 price objective on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $398.36.

Visa Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE V opened at $353.10 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $633.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $336.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $325.10. Visa has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $365.14.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 50.1% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Visa by 68.9% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,733,000 after buying an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. raised its stake in Visa by 4.6% during the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,834,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its holdings in Visa by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $402,000 after buying an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Visa by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,521,000 after buying an additional 2,230 shares during the last quarter. 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.