Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Up 1.2% – Here’s Why

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s share price was up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $309.54 and last traded at $309.41. Approximately 856,733 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 7,025,599 shares. The stock had previously closed at $305.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Compass Point assumed coverage on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $319.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Visa from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.74.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company has a market capitalization of $561.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $283.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $274.67.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total transaction of $2,382,309.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Arjuna Capital grew its position in Visa by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Arjuna Capital now owns 11,851 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $731,000. Mechanics Bank Trust Department grew its stake 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 worth $8,520,000 after purchasing an additional 2,410 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 46.9% during the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 50,328 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $14,046,000 after purchasing an additional 16,078 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.2% in the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 404,914 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $111,331,000 after acquiring an additional 20,023 shares in the last quarter. 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.