Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Up 0.7% – Time to Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) rose 0.7% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $313.47 and last traded at $311.96. Approximately 1,247,397 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 6,936,597 shares. The stock had previously closed at $309.92.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on V. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Macquarie lifted their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Compass Point began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $321.74.

Visa Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28. The company’s 50 day moving average is $289.52 and its 200 day moving average is $277.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $583.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 24.25%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The trade was a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Arjuna Capital raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.8% in the second quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 11,851 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at approximately $731,000. Mechanics Bank Trust Department increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 8.0% in the second quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 32,460 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $8,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC raised its position in Visa by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $111,331,000 after purchasing an additional 20,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its holdings in Visa by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 58,655 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $15,299,000 after buying an additional 4,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.