Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 1.5% – Should You Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price shot up 1.5% on Friday . The company traded as high as $371.80 and last traded at $371.09. 6,665,680 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 7,890,429 shares. The stock had previously closed at $365.73.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on V. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $435.00 target price (up from $430.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Visa from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial set a $406.00 price objective on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $413.58.

Visa Trading Up 1.5%

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $353.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $662.18 billion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.74.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The firm had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.79%.

Visa declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,490 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $343.99, for a total value of $3,608,455.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,219,704.26. This trade represents a 40.87% 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, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 57,272 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total value of $20,902,561.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 49,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,125,140.14. This trade represents a 53.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 90,759 shares of company stock valued at $32,375,779. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 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 worth $6,522,000 after buying an additional 6,883 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Visa by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,733,000 after acquiring an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its stake in Visa by 4.6% in the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,834,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its stake in Visa by 16.9% in the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. grew its holdings in Visa by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,521,000 after acquiring an additional 2,230 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

About Visa

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.