Visa (NYSE:V) Trading 0.4% Higher - Here's What Happened

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) shares were up 0.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $336.21 and last traded at $335.81. Approximately 1,138,291 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 6,813,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $334.37.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on V shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Friday, March 21st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $358.17.

Visa Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $623.28 billion, a PE ratio of 33.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $338.42 and a 200-day moving average of $322.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $2,930,800.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 159,405,343 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $50,378,465,000 after buying an additional 7,079,706 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,345,176 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $12,729,901,000 after purchasing an additional 1,689,926 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,816,573 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $7,526,660,000 after purchasing an additional 866,596 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 23,277,622 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $7,356,614,000 after purchasing an additional 241,057 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Visa by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 18,260,714 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $5,771,116,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.