Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Down 0.9%

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) was down 0.9% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $277.70 and last traded at $278.12. Approximately 1,110,502 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 5,577,244 shares. The stock had previously closed at $280.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $326.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Visa from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Visa in a research note on Tuesday, December 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $280.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $295.82.

Visa Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $279.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $511.98 billion, a PE ratio of 32.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.55 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 9.89 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.94%.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total transaction of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at $62,716,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 232,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,716,662.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,311 shares of company stock worth $12,832,129 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Alaethes Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 8,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Visa by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Holistic Financial Partners lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Holistic Financial Partners now owns 1,975 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,217 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Destiny Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,668 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.