Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Down 1.7% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Visa shares fell 1.7% on Wednesday, trading as low as $319.80 and ending at $320.77 on lighter volume than usual. The stock has also been below its 200-day moving average of $326.25.
• Despite the pullback, Visa’s latest earnings were better than expected, with quarterly EPS of $3.31 beating estimates and revenue of $11.23 billion topping forecasts. Revenue rose 17.1% year over year, and analysts still expect full-year EPS of 13.08.
• Visa boosted shareholder returns by declaring a quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share and authorizing a $20 billion share buyback. Analyst sentiment remains bullish overall, with an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $387.67.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) fell 1.7% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $319.80 and last traded at $320.77. 6,794,667 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 7,731,953 shares. The stock had previously closed at $326.42.

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa expanded its Flexible Credential offering in the U.K. with Zilch and Thredd, giving consumers more checkout financing choices through one card and reinforcing Visa’s role in modern payment flows.
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is also being mentioned in broader industry coverage as a beneficiary of digital-payment growth, including contactless payments, BNPL adoption, and rising cross-border transaction activity.
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional mentions of Visa in industry and regional payments reports highlight continued adoption of digital wallets and new payment rails, but these are more background tailwinds than immediate stock-moving catalysts.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Loop Capital assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a "buy" rating and a $387.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 target price (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $387.67.

Visa Stock Down 1.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $311.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $326.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $575.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.78.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.Visa's quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,679 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $829,471.98. The trade was a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of V. Invariant Investment Management acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $969,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 24.1% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 823,262 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $281,045,000 after acquiring an additional 159,906 shares during the last quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA grew its position in Visa by 2.6% during the third quarter. Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Fiduciary Advisors LLP MA now owns 574,043 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $198,596,000 after acquiring an additional 14,581 shares during the period. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its stake in Visa by 11.3% during the third quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,352,766 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $803,187,000 after acquiring an additional 238,872 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.