Visa (NYSE:V) Trading 0.2% Higher – Time to Buy?

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) rose 0.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $317.66 and last traded at $316.04. Approximately 3,963,126 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average daily volume of 6,913,891 shares. The stock had previously closed at $315.31.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on V shares. Macquarie raised their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $328.41.

Visa Stock Up 0.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $307.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $284.86. The company has a market capitalization of $588.74 billion, a PE ratio of 32.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Unionview LLC increased its stake in Visa by 1.5% during the third quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. FWG Holdings LLC grew its stake in Visa by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. FWG Holdings LLC now owns 3,168 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $900,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. St. Louis Trust Co grew its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the third quarter. St. Louis Trust Co now owns 3,885 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,068,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 6,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,709,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 13,933 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,831,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. 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.