Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Jumps 1.2% – Time to Buy?

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) traded up 1.2% during trading on Friday. The company traded as high as $427.46 and last traded at $425.5460. Approximately 4,639,101 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 7,496,826 shares. The stock had previously closed at $420.31.

Key Visa News

These are some of the V news items that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: New partnerships broaden payment use cases: AviaGames players can receive eligible payouts directly to Visa cards, and a partnership with Octopus expands Visa QR-payment acceptance at merchants in Hong Kong. AviaGames payout collaboration Visa and Octopus expand QR payments
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment is favorable, with Bernstein maintaining an Outperform rating and recent reports citing constructive price targets. Visa also disclosed a quarterly dividend of $0.78 per share, up from $0.67. Bernstein analyst outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider Paul Fabara sold 3,401 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan and retained 33,913 shares. The planned nature of the sale may temper its significance, but insider selling can still draw investor attention. SEC insider transaction filing

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $466.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Evercore set a $405.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. President Capital raised their target price on Visa from $411.00 to $474.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Visa from $420.00 to $438.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have given a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $443.35.

Visa Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $389.44 and its 200 day moving average is $346.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $759.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.51, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.04. Visa had a net margin of 51.20% and a return on equity of 70.50%. The firm had revenue of $12.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.09 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.98 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 15.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be paid a $0.78 dividend. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.30%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 3,401 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $423.09, for a total transaction of $1,438,929.09. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 33,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,348,251.17. This trade represents a 9.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $416.22, for a total value of $2,445,292.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $6,315,722.28. This trade represents a 27.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,663 shares of company stock valued at $12,634,720. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. New World Advisors LLC grew its stake in Visa by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. New World Advisors LLC now owns 3,038 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,092,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its position in Visa by 9.1% during the third quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 1,538,092 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $552,683,000 after acquiring an additional 128,629 shares during the last quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 835.7% during the third quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,849 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,461,000 after acquiring an additional 6,117 shares during the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 8.4% during the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 30,531 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $10,971,000 after acquiring an additional 2,374 shares during the period. Finally, HighVista Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 19.8% during the third quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 7,141 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,566,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

Visa Inc. operates a global payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. Its network supports the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payments, including transactions made in person and online. The company’s services include payment processing, fraud prevention, identity and risk management, and money-transfer solutions such as Visa Direct. Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards are issued by participating financial institutions; Visa generally provides the network and related services rather than issuing cards or extending credit directly to consumers.