Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.1% - Here's What Happened

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report)'s share price shot up 0.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $350.37 and last traded at $348.20. 2,251,721 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 7,203,765 shares. The stock had previously closed at $347.70.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $362.38.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The stock's 50 day moving average is $337.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $325.63. The stock has a market cap of $650.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.34, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The business's revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.51 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.72%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total transaction of $12,875,320.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,642,333.60. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 143,208 shares of company stock worth $48,905,978. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Visa during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $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.

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