Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Up 1.6% – Still a Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s share price shot up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $365.91 and last traded at $364.5540. 6,817,337 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 14% from the average session volume of 7,923,592 shares. The stock had previously closed at $358.84.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on V shares. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial set a $406.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $432.00 price target (up from $412.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $430.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $416.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.58.

Visa Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company’s 50 day moving average is $351.80 and its 200 day moving average is $329.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $655.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.74.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.98 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.79%.

Visa announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,625,440. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 90,759 shares of company stock worth $32,375,779. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. XXEC Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 153,118.8% in the 2nd quarter. XXEC Inc. now owns 186,260,448 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $63,904,097,000 after buying an additional 186,138,883 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 0.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $29,038,140,000 after acquiring an additional 626,821 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $15,411,395,000 after acquiring an additional 388,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in 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 valued at $14,411,480,000 after acquiring an additional 716,218 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Company Profile

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.