Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Up 0.6%

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price traded up 0.6% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $274.47 and last traded at $274.10. 1,212,860 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 5,807,213 shares. The stock had previously closed at $272.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TD Cowen began coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $298.43.

Visa Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $502.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.54, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $279.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.62.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The business had revenue of $8.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.18 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 9.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. Masso Torrence Wealth Management Inc. now owns 3,591 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Wheelhouse Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth about $203,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 32,927 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $9,189,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,938 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,890,000 after buying an additional 552 shares during the period. Finally, TrueWealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $708,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.