Visa (NYSE:V) Upgraded by Erste Group Bank to "Buy" Rating

Key Points

• Erste Group Bank upgraded Visa from “Hold” to “Buy,” joining a broadly positive analyst consensus. Visa has a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $399.41.
• Visa’s latest quarterly results exceeded expectations, with earnings per share of $3.31 versus the $3.10 consensus and revenue of $11.23 billion, up 17.1% year over year.
• The board authorized a $20 billion share-repurchase program, while company insiders have recently sold shares; institutional investors own approximately 82.15% of Visa’s stock.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Erste Group Bank from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Monday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on V. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $371.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $412.00 price objective on Visa and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Visa from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an "outperform" rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and nineteen have given a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $399.41.

Visa Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of V opened at $355.29 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $637.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $337.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $325.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 1.09. Visa has a 1 year low of $293.89 and a 1 year high of $365.14.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Visa will post 13.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to repurchase up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total value of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,219,704.26. This represents a 40.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock valued at $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Visa

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of V. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Visa by 50.1% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $3,733,000 after buying an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its position in Visa by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $3,834,000 after buying an additional 477 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY increased its position in Visa by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $402,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its stake in Visa by 13.8% during the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $6,521,000 after buying an additional 2,230 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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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