Visa (NYSE:V) Sets New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $369.49 and last traded at $369.19, with a volume of 705084 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $365.86.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on V shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Macquarie dropped their price target on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They set an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.80.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $344.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $334.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $676.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The firm had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.51 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Visa's payout ratio is 23.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $2,978,899.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,576.46. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,546,299 in the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of V. Keystone Global Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the first quarter worth $27,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Company Profile

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.