Visa (NYSE:V) Reaches New 1-Year High - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Visa shares reached a new 52-week high, trading around $380, while analysts maintained an overall “Buy” consensus and an average price target of $413.58.
• Visa beat quarterly expectations with adjusted EPS of $3.32 versus $3.23 expected and revenue of $11.63 billion; revenue increased 14.4% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.67 and authorized a $20 billion share-repurchase program, although recent insider sales totaled about $32.4 million.

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $379.38 and last traded at $380.10, with a volume of 586747 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $371.04.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on V shares. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $416.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $406.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $435.00 price objective (up from $430.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have given a Buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.58.

Visa Trading Up 2.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $680.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $353.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $329.61.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.Visa's revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

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

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total transaction of $3,608,455.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total transaction of $20,902,561.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at $18,125,140.14. This trade represents a 53.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 90,759 shares of company stock valued at $32,375,779. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC increased its position in Visa by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, RHL Group LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 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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