Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Down 2.1% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Visa shares declined by 2.1%, closing at $336.64 with a significant drop in trading volume to approximately 1.65 million shares, 74% below the average.
• Despite the dip in share price, Wall Street analysts are optimistic, with multiple firms raising their target price for Visa; Barclays targets $408, UBS sets it at $415, and Jefferies at $410.
• Visa reported a 14.3% year-over-year revenue growth for the last quarter, with earnings of $2.98 per share, topping the consensus estimate of $2.85.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) was down 2.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $338.14 and last traded at $336.64. Approximately 1,656,442 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 6,443,396 shares. The stock had previously closed at $343.99.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 target price (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $415.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 27th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $385.96.

Visa Stock Down 1.4%

The firm has a market capitalization of $621.48 billion, a PE ratio of 33.10, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.92. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $348.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $347.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NWF Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Visa by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. NWF Advisory Services Inc. now owns 36,190 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $12,849,000 after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the period. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 14,512 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $4,887,000 after buying an additional 729 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Visa by 22.3% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 537,599 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $190,802,000 after purchasing an additional 97,976 shares in the last quarter. American Trust increased its position in Visa by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Trust now owns 17,437 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,191,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 5.6% during the second quarter. Total Investment Management Inc. now owns 886 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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