Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Visa Inc. experienced a dramatic increase in short interest, reaching a total of 27.3 million shares as of July 15th, a growth of 245,845.9% from the previous month.
• Insider trading activity showed significant sales, with CEO Ryan Mcinerney selling 8,630 shares, resulting in a 94.14% decrease in his ownership of the stock.
• Visa's quarterly earnings surpassed expectations, reporting $2.98 earnings per share and revenue of $10.17 billion, contributing to a projected 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 27,300,000 shares, agrowthof245,845.9% from the June 30th total of 11,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,270,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,904,875. The trade was a 30.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Visa by 82.0% in the 2nd quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $380.84.

Visa Stock Down 1.9%

V traded down $6.70 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $338.78. 4,208,918 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,600,397. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $355.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $346.13. The company has a market cap of $625.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.92. Visa has a fifty-two week low of $254.51 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.08.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The business's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Visa will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.05%.

About Visa

Visa Inc operates as a payment technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates VisaNet, a transaction processing network that enables authorization, clearing, and settlement of payment transactions. It also offers credit, debit, and prepaid card products; tap to pay, tokenization, and click to pay services; Visa Direct, a solution that facilitates the delivery of funds to eligible cards, deposit accounts, and digital wallets; Visa B2B Connect, a multilateral business-to-business cross-border payments network; Visa Cross-Border Solution, a cross-border consumer payments solution; and Visa DPS that provides a range of value-added services, including fraud mitigation, dispute management, data analytics, campaign management, a suite of digital solutions, and contact center services.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.