Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 2.5% – What’s Next?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s share price shot up 2.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $324.76 and last traded at $320.0630. 6,960,559 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 11% from the average session volume of 7,857,489 shares. The stock had previously closed at $312.40.

More Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a collaboration with Brale to test private, blockchain-based stablecoin settlement for institutional payments on the Canton Network, reinforcing its strategy to build out faster, more efficient settlement rails. Visa and Brale Explore Private Stablecoin Settlement for Institutional Payments
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe are backing a new stablecoin platform suggest the major payments players are adapting to crypto rather than being disrupted by it, which can support sentiment around Visa’s long-term growth prospects. Mastercard and Visa Back Stealth Stablecoin Platform
• Positive Sentiment: Visa also announced senior leadership appointments in Asia Pacific to accelerate value-added services and Southeast Asia growth, highlighting continued investment in higher-margin international expansion. Visa Announces Asia Pacific Leadership Appointments to Scale Value-Added Services and Southeast Asia Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed new gold-backed Visa cards and rewards programs from partners like Tether and Fasset, which keep Visa’s network visible in crypto-enabled consumer products but are more of a branding/read-through than a direct earnings driver. Tether Backs $1M in Gold Rewards as First Gold-Backed Visa Card Goes Live
• Negative Sentiment: News that Visa and Mastercard payments will be halted in Cuba under expanded U.S. sanctions is a small negative, as it reduces payment volumes in that market, though the financial impact is likely limited. Visa, Mastercard payments to be halted in Cuba amid new US sanctions

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Visa from $390.00 to $410.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price objective (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $389.00 price objective on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Visa from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $389.33.

Visa Trading Up 2.5%

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 firm has a market capitalization of $574.12 billion, a PE ratio of 27.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $315.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $324.56.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The company’s revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.34%.

Visa declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,161,284.36. This represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in V. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,877,738,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its stake in Visa by 867.6% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 8,213,610 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,880,595,000 after purchasing an additional 7,364,762 shares during the period. Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 29,706.3% during the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,332,947 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,216,310,000 after purchasing an additional 7,308,345 shares during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its stake in Visa by 12,497.1% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 3,378,039 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,184,712,000 after purchasing an additional 3,351,223 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,508,089 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,282,472,000 after purchasing an additional 2,116,463 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.