Visa (NYSE:V) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after Erste Group Bank upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The company traded as high as $366.60 and last traded at $365.6420, with a volume of 926313 shares. The stock had previously closed at $362.53.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Clear Str upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays started coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and nineteen have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $399.41.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa was upgraded from “hold” to “buy” by Erste Group Bank, adding to the constructive analyst view of the stock. A separate report cited a roughly $395.88 price target, implying additional upside. Finviz
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is supporting X Money, Elon Musk’s newly expanded financial-services platform, through Visa-branded debit cards. Broader availability could create incremental card-issuance and payment volume opportunities for Visa. Cross River to enable P2P payments, banking services for X Money
• Positive Sentiment: The launch of a Samsung Galaxy Card is another potential expansion of Visa’s payments ecosystem and helped support recent investor enthusiasm. Visa Stock Gains With New First-of-its-Kind Credit Card
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa is scheduled to report fiscal third-quarter results after the closing bell on July 28. Investors are focused on payment volume, cross-border spending, transaction growth and management’s outlook, while analysts have been revising estimates ahead of the release. Visa Earnings Are Imminent
• Negative Sentiment: Visa plans to eliminate approximately 2,600 positions, or 7% of its workforce, to improve efficiency amid tougher conditions in the payments industry. The cuts may reduce expenses and support margins, but their scale also signals pressure to adapt to changing competition and payment trends. Visa plans to cut 7% of workforce

Institutional Trading of Visa

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of V. Clayton Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Visa by 446.2% in the 4th quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp lifted its position in Visa by 102.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 200.0% during the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Dorato Capital Management bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Trading Up 1.2%

The company has a market capitalization of $658.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $338.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $325.18. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Visa

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.