Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Down 1.2% - Here's What Happened

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) fell 1.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $352.22 and last traded at $353.83. 1,498,178 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 6,997,120 shares. The stock had previously closed at $357.97.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on V. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Macquarie lowered their target price on shares of Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $393.00 price target (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $362.38.

Visa Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $341.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $331.33. The stock has a market cap of $653.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.69, 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.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total value of $5,259,207.52. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,377,671.52. This represents a 35.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,575 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.58, for a total transaction of $889,868.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,121,041.50. The trade was a 17.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282 in the last 90 days. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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