Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 1.9% After Analyst Upgrade

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares shot up 1.9% on Monday after Erste Group Bank upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $363.66 and last traded at $362.3710. 6,626,938 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 17% from the average session volume of 7,950,921 shares. The stock had previously closed at $355.74.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler started coverage on Visa in a research report on Monday, June 29th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 target price for the company. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 price target on the stock. Eight 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $399.41.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,625,440. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in V. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,038,140,000 after buying an additional 626,821 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,411,395,000 after buying an additional 388,996 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Visa by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $14,411,480,000 after buying an additional 716,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Visa by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 23,835,336 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $8,359,291,000 after buying an additional 398,459 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $650.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $337.58 and a 200-day 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 (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.34%.

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

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.