Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nineteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $303.00.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Wedbush increased their price objective on Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total transaction of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 4.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $11,582,785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257,605 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Visa by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 22,943,773 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,973,432,000 after buying an additional 596,950 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Visa by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 17,895,788 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,659,169,000 after buying an additional 1,323,238 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Visa by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,073,700 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,927,122,000 after buying an additional 763,505 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,895,015,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Up 1.5 %

Visa stock opened at $276.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $505.98 billion, a PE ratio of 30.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. Visa has a fifty-two week low of $216.14 and a fifty-two week high of $290.96. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $277.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $266.37.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 51.23% and a net margin of 53.87%. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.09 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Visa will post 9.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.24%.

Visa Company Profile

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.