Visa (NYSE:V) Rating Lowered to Hold at Erste Group Bank

Key Points

• Visa has been downgraded from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating by Erste Group Bank, reflecting a shift in analyst sentiment regarding the stock.
• The company reported strong quarterly earnings, with EPS of $2.98, exceeding expectations of $2.85 and showing a 14.3% year-over-year revenue increase.
• Analyst consensus rates Visa as a "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $385.96, suggesting continued optimism despite the recent downgrade.

Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Visa (NYSE:V - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports.

V has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Visa in a report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $410.00 target price for the company. Mizuho upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Citigroup initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $408.00 price objective (up previously from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Visa from $390.00 to $391.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $385.96.

Visa Trading Up 0.8%

V stock traded up $2.67 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $344.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,618,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,421,370. The company has a market cap of $630.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.92. The business's 50 day moving average price is $345.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $346.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Visa has a 12 month low of $268.23 and a 12 month high of $375.51.

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

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total value of $3,053,466.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $190,001.34. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the first quarter valued at $26,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Sagard Holdings Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. 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.