Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Up 0.7% - Here's What Happened

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) shares rose 0.7% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $312.52 and last traded at $310.53. Approximately 2,082,992 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 7,237,402 shares. The stock had previously closed at $308.27.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on V. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI began coverage on Visa in a report on Wednesday. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Visa from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $355.84.

Visa Stock Performance

The business's fifty day simple moving average is $342.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $318.76. The company has a market capitalization of $619.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This trade represents a 17.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares in the company, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.6% in the third quarter. Howard Capital Management Group LLC now owns 106,355 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $29,242,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Visa by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 5,733,284 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,576,366,000 after acquiring an additional 411,210 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the third quarter worth approximately $69,000. Passumpsic Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the third quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank now owns 9,137 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,512,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 101.5% in the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 44,984 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $12,368,000 after purchasing an additional 22,658 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is 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.