Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Up 1.9% Following Analyst Upgrade

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s share price rose 1.9% during trading on Monday after Erste Group Bank upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $363.66 and last traded at $362.3710. Approximately 6,626,938 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 17% from the average daily volume of 7,950,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $355.74.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on V. Clear Str upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. 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. Piper Sandler began coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and nineteen have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $399.41.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975 in the last ninety days. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,038,140,000 after buying an additional 626,821 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,411,395,000 after buying an additional 388,996 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $14,411,480,000 after buying an additional 716,218 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,835,336 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,359,291,000 after acquiring an additional 398,459 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $338.16 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $325.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $650.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan 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 repurchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.