Visa (NYSE:V) Trading 0.4% Higher - Time to Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) shares rose 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $353.82 and last traded at $351.09. Approximately 776,592 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 7,194,027 shares. The stock had previously closed at $349.85.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $362.38.

Visa Trading Up 0.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $653.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business's fifty day moving average is $337.15 and its 200 day moving average is $325.80.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 36,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % 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, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 143,208 shares of company stock worth $48,905,978. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. von Borstel & Associates Inc. bought a new position in Visa in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

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.

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