Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.6% – Time to Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price was up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $318.64 and last traded at $319.21. Approximately 1,678,028 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 5,364,677 shares. The stock had previously closed at $317.25.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on V. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Visa from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $310.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $330.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Visa from $321.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $331.92.

Visa Stock Up 0.6 %

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $312.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $287.85. The company has a market capitalization of $594.77 billion, a PE ratio of 32.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 53.16% and a net margin of 54.96%. The company’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.33 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 24.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total value of $668,602.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 830,497 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $262,470,000 after acquiring an additional 3,649 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,033 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $326,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors lifted its stake in Visa by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Kelleher Financial Advisors now owns 2,057 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 3,609 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the period. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp increased its stake in Visa by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 9,976 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,153,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during 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.