Visa (NYSE:V) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Compass Point

Compass Point assumed coverage on shares of Visa (NYSE:V) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $319.00 price objective on the credit-card processor’s stock.

V has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $297.00 price objective (down from $305.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Visa from $325.00 to $300.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Visa from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $325.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Six 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $309.54.

Visa Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:V opened at $279.37 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $266.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $273.13. Visa has a 12-month low of $227.78 and a 12-month high of $290.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $509.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42. Visa had a return on equity of 51.94% and a net margin of 54.72%. The firm had revenue of $8.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Visa will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 142,202,830 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $39,685,966,000 after acquiring an additional 788,908 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Visa by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,570,391 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,578,025,000 after acquiring an additional 626,618 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Visa by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,863,796 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $5,264,508,000 after acquiring an additional 968,008 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter valued at $3,895,015,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Visa by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,610,590 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,833,981,000 after acquiring an additional 345,829 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.