Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Receives Average Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the twenty-eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nineteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $402.5217.

Several brokerages have recently commented on V. HSBC raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $335.00 to $389.00 in a report on Sunday, December 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Morgan Stanley set a $398.00 target price on shares of Visa and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Evercore ISI set a $380.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total transaction of $3,575,385.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,117. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. This represents a 7.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,042 shares of company stock worth $8,175,152. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Parvin Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Visa by 200.0% in the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. acquired a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Sagard Holdings Management Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 82.0% during the second quarter. Cranbrook Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 1.0%

Visa stock opened at $349.45 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $636.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.82. Visa has a 1 year low of $299.00 and a 1 year high of $375.51. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $337.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $344.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.97 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 60.31% and a net margin of 50.15%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.71 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Visa will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

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

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.