Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Down 2.1% – Here’s What Happened

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) dropped 2.1% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $324.88 and last traded at $325.43. Approximately 1,845,868 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 7,252,339 shares. The stock had previously closed at $332.43.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on V. StockNews.com cut shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $619.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.64, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $342.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $318.76.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. As a group, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total transaction of $3,020,792.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $188,186.28. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $724,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,005,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Visa by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Visa by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $928,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. raised its holdings in Visa by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,292,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

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.