Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Up 1.9% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Visa's stock price increased by 1.9% during mid-day trading, reaching as high as $343.45 before closing at $341.90, with trading volume slightly lower than average.
• Analysts have set various price targets for Visa, with estimates ranging from $391.00 to $415.00, and the consensus average price target currently at $389.00.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $2.98 EPS, exceeding consensus estimates of $2.85, and a revenue of $10.17 billion, indicating a 14.3% year-over-year increase.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 1.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $343.45 and last traded at $341.90. Approximately 6,254,850 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 3% from the average daily volume of 6,430,982 shares. The stock had previously closed at $335.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Visa from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $410.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $389.00.

Visa Stock Performance

The firm's 50-day moving average is $344.20 and its 200 day moving average is $346.87. The stock has a market cap of $626.63 billion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.90. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. Visa's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa 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 transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in V. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 162,544,006 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $57,711,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461,575 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.5% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 43,096,802 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $15,253,245,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,631 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter valued at about $7,034,939,000. TCI Fund Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 14.6% in the second quarter. TCI Fund Management Ltd. now owns 19,067,558 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,769,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429,996 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,987,013 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,654,189,000 after purchasing an additional 726,299 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

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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