Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.9% – Still a Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price was up 0.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $354.43 and last traded at $354.69. Approximately 929,613 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 5,651,707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $351.49.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on V shares. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Visa from $354.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen increased their target price on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $660.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $323.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $297.90.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.79%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This trade represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 58,056 shares of company stock worth $19,830,050. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $724,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Visa by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Valmark Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Visa by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,292,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Strategic Family Wealth Counselors L.L.C. now owns 7,283 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

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.