Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 1.1% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) were up 1.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $320.72 and last traded at $320.64. Approximately 812,783 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 6,961,504 shares. The stock had previously closed at $317.22.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Monness Crespi & Hardt reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, September 24th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Visa from $319.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Visa from $318.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Compass Point started coverage on Visa in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $319.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $328.41.

Visa Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $597.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.95, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.28. The company’s 50-day moving average is $303.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $282.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th were issued a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,510,815.18. The trade was a 10.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter valued at $26,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Visa during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Visa during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. West Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 101.4% during the 3rd quarter. West Financial Advisors LLC now owns 145 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

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.