Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.6% – Should You Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s share price rose 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $309.43 and last traded at $309.29. Approximately 1,292,722 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 6,946,516 shares. The stock had previously closed at $307.39.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of several recent research reports. Compass Point initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $319.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on Visa from $319.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Macquarie raised their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $317.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $321.74.

Visa Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $577.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $289.52 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $277.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.19 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Visa’s payout ratio is 24.25%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 94.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 970.0% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 211.9% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.