Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 1.9% - Here's Why

Key Points

• Visa shares rose 1.9% on Friday, with trading volume more than doubling the average session volume, reflecting strong investor interest following the latest company news.
• Visa is expanding its growth initiatives with the launch of Visa Destinations, a global travel platform in 10 major markets, and by broadening Visa Cloud Connect partnerships in Asia Pacific with Mintoak and Thredd.
• The company continues to show solid fundamentals: it beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, raised its stock repurchase authorization by $20 billion, and maintains a consensus Buy rating from analysts.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 1.9% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $339.72 and last traded at $336.9580. Approximately 16,628,982 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 109% from the average session volume of 7,973,873 shares. The stock had previously closed at $330.52.

Visa News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa launched Visa Destinations, a global travel platform now live in 10 major markets, designed to engage cardholders earlier in the travel journey and deepen use of Visa’s network through curated experiences and exclusive access. Visa Redefines Its Role in Travel With the Global Launch of Visa Destinations
• Positive Sentiment: Visa expanded Visa Cloud Connect with Mintoak and Thredd in Asia Pacific, which could help fintechs and banks issue cards faster and broaden Visa’s reach in merchant SaaS and cloud-based issuing. Visa (V), Mintoak Partner to Expand Merchant SaaS Offerings Across Asia Pacific
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are highlighting Visa’s new travel push and international expansion efforts as potential future growth drivers, reinforcing the view that Visa can keep monetizing cross-border spending and travel-related activity. Can Visa's New Travel Play Become Its Next Growth Driver?
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent write-ups on Visa’s travel and partner initiatives are largely descriptive, but they underscore investor focus on whether these new products can meaningfully add to growth over time. Visa Explores Travel Planning Space With Visa Destinations
• Neutral Sentiment: One opinion piece argued Visa could be vulnerable to payment disruption, but it did not include new fundamental data and appears to be more of a long-term risk discussion than a near-term catalyst. Visa: May Be Next On The Disruption Hit List

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $387.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Evercore set a $350.00 price target on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $387.78.

Visa Trading Up 1.9%

The company has a market capitalization of $604.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.35, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $322.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $324.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa's payout ratio is 23.34%.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 buy up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its position in Visa by 867.6% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,880,595,000 after acquiring an additional 7,364,762 shares in the last quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Visa by 29,706.3% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,216,310,000 after purchasing an additional 7,308,345 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in Visa by 12,497.1% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,184,712,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,223 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $2,282,472,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,463 shares in the last quarter. 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.