Brokerages Set Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Price Target at $414.54

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the thirty-one analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Twenty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and seven have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $416.6154.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on V. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $466.00 price objective (up from $412.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $432.00 target price (up from $412.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, July 30th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 price target (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Visa from $387.00 to $405.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th.

Visa Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Visa stock opened at $374.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $363.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $333.27. Visa has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $385.57. The stock has a market cap of $668.20 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.76.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.98 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Visa will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s payout ratio is 22.79%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total transaction of $773,377.80. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,018,365.40. This trade represents a 9.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total transaction of $7,135,042.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,162,953.50. The trade was a 58.02% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 104,537 shares of company stock worth $37,540,837 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Visa by 200.0% in the 3rd 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. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, RHL Group LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.