Piper Sandler Upgrades Visa (NYSE:V) to "Strong-Buy"

Key Points

• Piper Sandler upgraded Visa to “strong-buy,” adding to a generally bullish Wall Street view of the stock. Overall, analysts tracked in the article show an average rating of “Buy” with an average price target of $397.96.
• Visa reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with earnings of $3.31 per share versus the $3.10 consensus and revenue of $11.23 billion versus the expected $10.75 billion. Revenue rose 17.1% year over year, and the company posted a net margin of 51.68%.
• The company authorized a $20 billion stock buyback, which covers up to 3.6% of shares outstanding and signals management confidence in the stock’s value. The article also notes recent insider selling by the CFO and CEO, though the CEO’s sale was under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 plan.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Piper Sandler to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Bank of America started coverage on Visa in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $389.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $397.96.

Visa Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of V opened at $342.63 on Monday. The company's fifty day moving average is $324.40 and its 200 day moving average is $324.52. Visa has a fifty-two week low of $293.89 and a fifty-two week high of $359.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $614.60 billion, a PE ratio of 29.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of the business's 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 owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,162,953.50. This represents a 58.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 63,064 shares of company stock worth $21,289,800. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

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

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa is participating in the launch of the Open USD stablecoin initiative alongside major players like Stripe, Google, and BlackRock, a sign that the company is staying central to the next wave of digital payments and money movement. Visa and Google Sign on to Use Money Movement Stablecoin OpenUSD
• Positive Sentiment: Visa’s new travel platform expansion and cross-border partnership push could support transaction growth, especially as travel and experience spending remain strong. Visa redefines its role in travel with the global expansion of Visa Destinations
• Positive Sentiment: Visa said online deal hunting is helping consumers keep spending on discretionary purchases, which is encouraging for payment volume trends. Visa Says Online Deal Hunting Sustains Consumers' Discretionary Spending
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa also unveiled smartphone-based tools for small businesses to accept payments through Visa Pay, Visa Accept and Visa Direct, which supports its long-term growth story but is more incremental near term. Visa Brings Card Acceptance to SMB Smartphones
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Ryan McInerney sold 20,970 shares in a pre-arranged transaction, which can create a small amount of investor caution even though it was conducted under a 10b5-1 plan. SEC filing for CEO stock sale

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.

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