Visa (NYSE:V) Upgraded at Hsbc Global Res

Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Visa (NYSE:V) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on V. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $405.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Macquarie dropped their price target on Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. HSBC upgraded Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $335.00 to $389.00 in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Erste Group Bank cut Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $399.52.

Visa Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE V opened at $325.57 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53. The business has a 50-day moving average of $337.72 and a 200-day moving average of $345.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $593.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.89, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.82. Visa has a 12 month low of $299.00 and a 12 month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The business had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Visa will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.25%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total value of $3,575,385.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,117. This represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total transaction of $302,832.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,468 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $830,432.64. This trade represents a 26.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,175,152. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 0.9% during the second quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,185,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Transcendent Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Transcendent Capital Group LLC now owns 1,013 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its position in Visa by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $640,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Old Port Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 3,423 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,169,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Finally, Interchange Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,413 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,276,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.