Visa Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:V)

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 36,354 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 38% compared to the average daily volume of 26,272 call options.

Visa Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of V stock opened at $259.46 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $270.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $274.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Visa has a 1 year low of $227.78 and a 1 year high of $290.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $474.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.99, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.42. The firm had revenue of $8.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.92 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.16 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Visa will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on V. Mizuho raised their target price on Visa from $265.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on Visa from $322.00 to $319.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $307.25.

Insider Activity at Visa

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total value of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nadler Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,900 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Towerpoint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $216,000. Andrew Hill Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $3,427,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 75,421 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $19,636,000 after purchasing an additional 795 shares during the period. Finally, Cedrus LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Cedrus LLC now owns 2,010 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $523,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Visa Company Profile

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.