Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Up 1.6% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Visa shares rose 1.6% in Monday trading, reaching an intraday high of $325.18 on heavier-than-average volume. The move came as investors reacted to recent company and analyst updates.
• Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with Visa carrying a consensus Buy rating and an average price target of $387.25. Several firms recently reiterated or raised ratings, including Raymond James and Daiwa Securities.
• Visa’s latest earnings beat expectations, with EPS of $3.31 versus the $3.10 estimate and revenue of $11.23 billion, up 17.1% year over year. The company also announced a quarterly dividend and authorized a $20 billion share buyback.

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) shares were up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $325.18 and last traded at $323.9920. Approximately 9,582,546 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 23% from the average daily volume of 7,778,723 shares. The stock had previously closed at $318.79.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price objective on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings cut Visa from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Daiwa Securities Group upgraded Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Freedom Capital upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $387.25.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $310.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $326.72. The company has a market cap of $588.10 billion, a PE ratio of 28.22, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.78.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.08 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Visa's payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total value of $10,699,103.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. The trade was a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at approximately $829,471.98. The trade was a 19.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders own 0.12% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of V. Clayton Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 446.2% in the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. PayPay Securities Corp grew its holdings in Visa by 102.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 200.0% during the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world's largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa's network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa's product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.

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