Visa (NYSE:V) Rating Reiterated by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their overweight rating on shares of Visa (NYSE:V) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $322.00 price target on the credit-card processor’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Monness Crespi & Hardt reiterated a neutral rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Compass Point assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a buy rating and a $319.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Visa from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $310.22.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V opened at $275.17 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Visa has a 12-month low of $227.78 and a 12-month high of $293.07. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $271.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $503.27 billion, a PE ratio of 30.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. The company had revenue of $8.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.92 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.94% and a net margin of 54.72%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Visa will post 9.92 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 23.24%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in V. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 72.5% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 18,396 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $4,829,000 after acquiring an additional 7,734 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 101,450 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,157 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth about $721,000. Lazari Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 31.3% during the 2nd quarter. Lazari Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,536 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Visa in the second quarter valued at about $87,426,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.