Visa’s (V) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at Mizuho

Mizuho reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Visa (NYSE:V) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $265.00 target price on the credit-card processor’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $309.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Redburn Atlantic reissued a neutral rating and issued a $307.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, December 5th. They issued an outperform rating and a $280.00 target price on the stock. Finally, William Blair reissued an outperform rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $295.82.

Visa Price Performance

V stock opened at $279.08 on Wednesday. Visa has a one year low of $216.14 and a one year high of $290.96. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $279.32 and its 200-day moving average price is $258.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company has a market capitalization of $512.53 billion, a PE ratio of 32.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The credit-card processor reported $2.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.34 by $0.07. Visa had a net margin of 53.92% and a return on equity of 50.02%. The company had revenue of $8.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.55 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.18 earnings per share. Visa’s revenue was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Visa will post 9.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 9th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 8th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.94%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total value of $2,228,128.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Rajat Taneja sold 36,546 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.20, for a total value of $9,874,729.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 232,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $62,716,662.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,150 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $273.39, for a total transaction of $2,228,128.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,311 shares of company stock worth $12,832,129. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Visa

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,837,000. Fairman Group LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,000. Napatree Capital LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $350,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. raised its position in Visa by 252.9% during the 4th quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. now owns 307 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.