Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares shot up 0.5% during trading on Tuesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on the stock from $335.00 to $360.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Visa traded as high as $310.02 and last traded at $309.94. 928,266 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 6,904,657 shares. The stock had previously closed at $308.30.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $322.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $347.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $321.00 price target (up previously from $318.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.41.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 970.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Visa by 211.9% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $296.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $279.98. The stock has a market cap of $581.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.10, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

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.