Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 0.6% on Strong Earnings

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares traded up 0.6% on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $274.47 and last traded at $274.10. 1,212,860 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 5,807,213 shares. The stock had previously closed at $272.33.

The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.62 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 51.72% and a net margin of 53.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.09 EPS.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Visa from $314.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Wedbush raised their price target on Visa from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Visa from $309.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on Visa from $287.00 to $311.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total transaction of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $150,833.68. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC increased its position in shares of Visa by 545.5% in the 3rd quarter. Nalls Sherbakoff Group LLC now owns 142 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $279.44 and a 200-day moving average of $263.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $505.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.96.

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.