Visa (NYSE:V) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $368.10 and last traded at $366.93, with a volume of 881945 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $365.12.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on V. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Macquarie dropped their target price on Visa from $400.00 to $380.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $362.38.

Visa Trading Down 0.3%

The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $340.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $330.68. The company has a market cap of $677.10 billion, a PE ratio of 36.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.51 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th will be issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.72%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 14,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.04, for a total transaction of $5,259,207.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,377,671.52. This represents a 35.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $350.44, for a total value of $3,020,792.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 537 shares in the company, valued at approximately $188,186.28. This trade represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 121,948 shares of company stock valued at $41,548,282 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of V. IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.4% during the first quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 326,588 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $114,456,000 after purchasing an additional 13,728 shares during the last quarter. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 20.8% in the first quarter. Blue Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,168 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $409,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 99.2% during the 1st quarter. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,439 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,556,000 after buying an additional 2,211 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its position in Visa by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 19,540 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,848,000 after purchasing an additional 4,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 33.0% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 103,854 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $36,397,000 after acquiring an additional 25,748 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Company Profile

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.