Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.7% – Should You Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares were up 0.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $347.24 and last traded at $347.10. Approximately 880,428 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 6,682,225 shares. The stock had previously closed at $344.62.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Visa from $346.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $383.00 price target (up previously from $368.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Visa Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $636.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $343.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $314.66.

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

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued 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 payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.00, for a total transaction of $3,129,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $194,931. This represents a 94.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock valued at $48,560,961. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 48.5% in the fourth quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

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.