Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Given Average Rating of "Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts remain bullish on Visa: All 31 covering brokerages rate the stock Buy or Strong Buy, with an average 12-month price target of approximately $413.12.
• Visa exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $3.32 in earnings per share and $11.63 billion in revenue, up 14.4% year over year. The company also authorized a $20 billion share-repurchase program and pays a quarterly dividend of $0.67.
• Visa is strengthening its fraud-prevention business through the planned $2.4 billion cash acquisition of BioCatch, while facing emerging competition from digital-payment services such as X Money.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Buy" by the thirty-one brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Twenty-four research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and seven have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $413.1154.

A number of research analysts have commented on V shares. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $435.00 price target (up from $430.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald set a $445.00 price objective on Visa and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays started coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $420.00 target price on the stock. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $412.00 price target (up from $395.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $365.77 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $656.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $341.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $325.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Visa has a 12 month low of $293.89 and a 12 month high of $373.97.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.98 earnings per share. Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa will post 13.12 EPS for the current year.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is 22.79%.

More Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa agreed to acquire BioCatch for approximately $2.4 billion in cash. BioCatch uses behavioral biometrics, including typing patterns, touchscreen behavior and device handling, to identify account takeovers, scams, money-mule activity and application fraud before transactions occur. The deal should strengthen Visa’s fraud, cybersecurity and risk-management offerings as AI-enabled scams become more sophisticated. Visa to buy cybersecurity firm BioCatch for $2.4 billion amid surge in AI-powered scams
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is expanding its payment ecosystem through GCash, which plans to introduce card-linking capabilities with Visa and Mastercard. The rollout could improve consumer payment convenience and support transaction growth in the Philippines. GCash to expand payment options with Visa and Mastercard card linking
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa continues to promote controls and data governance for “agentic” artificial-intelligence systems. The initiative supports long-term opportunities in AI-enabled commerce, although it does not represent a near-term financial catalyst. Visa Says the Agentic Enterprise Starts With Better Controls
• Neutral Sentiment: Predictions that AI-powered cryptocurrency payments will become mainstream could eventually create new transaction opportunities for Visa, but the outlook is speculative and Ethereum-based adoption is not an immediate earnings driver. Tom Lee Predicts AI-Powered Crypto Payments Will Go Mainstream in Under Five Years
• Negative Sentiment: Elon Musk’s X Money is adding debit cards and money-transfer features, increasing competition for Visa in digital payments. The potential impact remains uncertain because the service is initially limited to select users. Elon Musk introduces money transfer service to social media app X
• Negative Sentiment: The BioCatch transaction requires a substantial cash outlay, which may pressure near-term returns if the acquisition takes time to generate meaningful revenue or cost synergies. A reported sale of 57,272 Visa shares by an insider may also weigh modestly on sentiment. Tullier Kelly Mahon Sells 57,272 Shares of Visa Stock

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. The trade was a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,219,704.26. This represents a 40.87% decrease in their position. 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 101,398 shares of company stock valued at $35,831,433. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter worth $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 867.6% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,880,595,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,762 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 29,706.3% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,216,310,000 after purchasing an additional 7,308,345 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in Visa by 12,497.1% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,184,712,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,282,472,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,463 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

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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