Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Up 0.7% - Still a Buy?

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) were up 0.7% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $361.89 and last traded at $354.88. Approximately 1,736,607 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 7,148,129 shares. The stock had previously closed at $352.54.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on V. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $393.00 target price (up previously from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. UBS Group decreased their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $395.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $362.38.

Visa Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company's fifty day moving average is $336.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $327.32. The stock has a market cap of $661.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The firm 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 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total value of $3,020,792.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at $188,186.28. The trade was a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total transaction of $5,259,207.52. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,377,671.52. The trade was a 35.93% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock worth $41,548,282. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Visa in the first quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $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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