Visa (NYSE:V) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald

Visa (NYSE:V) was upgraded by investment analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald to a “strong-buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $385.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Macquarie decreased their price target on shares of Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Bank of America raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $382.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.19.

Visa Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $325.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $592.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.81. The business has a 50-day moving average of $338.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $341.96. Visa has a fifty-two week low of $299.00 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.The business had revenue of $10.72 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Visa will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total transaction of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 9,401 shares in the company, valued at $3,282,641.18. The trade was a 52.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,247,289 over the last three months. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in Visa by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 97,458 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,181,000 after buying an additional 746 shares during the period. Leelyn Smith LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 15,750 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $5,524,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Planned Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. increased its stake in Visa by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. now owns 73,895 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $25,916,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares during the period. Finally, Emerald Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Emerald Advisors LLC now owns 2,363 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.