Visa (NYSE:V) Trading 1.3% Higher – Time to Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price traded up 1.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $349.50 and last traded at $348.74. 942,424 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 6,672,318 shares. The stock had previously closed at $344.18.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $393.00 target price (up from $374.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.84.

Visa Trading Down 2.1 %

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $343.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $315.06. The company has a market cap of $636.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total value of $2,739,263.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% during the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.