Visa (NYSE:V) Upgraded at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of Visa (NYSE:V) to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on V. Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Visa from $380.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $415.00 price objective (up previously from $405.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $392.75.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE:V opened at $347.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa has a fifty-two week low of $280.78 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The firm has a market cap of $636.60 billion, a PE ratio of 33.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $344.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $347.87.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Visa will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.05%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total value of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares in the company, valued at $4,102,438.50. This trade represents a 14.53% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total transaction of $3,589,015.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $183,815.10. The trade was a 95.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Keystone Global Partners LLC bought a new position in Visa in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Visa in the first quarter worth about $27,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Visa in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Harbor Asset Planning Inc. bought a new position in shares of Visa in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Sagard Holdings Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Visa during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other 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.