Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Up 1.1% – Should You Buy?

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) traded up 1.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $371.11 and last traded at $369.5950. 7,416,666 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the average session volume of 7,994,563 shares. The stock had previously closed at $365.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on V. Barclays assumed coverage on Visa in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $420.00 price target for the company. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Clear Str raised shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore set a $350.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $413.58.

Visa Stock Up 0.4%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $663.89 billion, a PE ratio of 31.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $343.51 and a 200 day moving average of $326.50.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.The business had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.98 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.13 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.79%.

Visa announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 20,970 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.25, for a total transaction of $7,135,042.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,162,953.50. This represents a 58.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total transaction of $729,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. 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 101,398 shares of company stock valued at $35,831,433 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. G&S Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.0% during the second quarter. G&S Capital LLC now owns 761 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $261,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. NerdWallet Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 4.5% in the second quarter. NerdWallet Wealth Partners LLC now owns 695 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $239,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC now owns 1,598 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 6,096 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,138,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Company Profile

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.