Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Down 1.3% – What’s Next?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) traded down 1.3% on Wednesday. The company traded as low as $389.56 and last traded at $390.8710. 7,609,958 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 7,547,388 shares. The stock had previously closed at $396.06.

Key Visa News

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa received approval from the People’s Bank of China to begin preparing a domestic bank-card clearing business. The authorization gives Visa a path into China’s large domestic payments market, which was previously largely inaccessible for local transactions. However, additional regulatory, operational and licensing steps remain before the business can launch. Visa gets Beijing’s green light for bank card business
• Positive Sentiment: An investor letter highlighted Visa’s high margins, limited direct credit exposure and asset-light payments model. These characteristics support resilient profitability and differentiate Visa from lenders that bear greater consumer-credit risk. Visa Benefits from High Margins with Minimal Credit Exposure
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks included Visa among fintech stocks with growth potential from digital-payment adoption, artificial intelligence and expanding financial services. This reinforces the bullish long-term view, although it is an analyst recommendation rather than a new company announcement. Buy 5 Financial Technology Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage ahead of Visa’s fourth-quarter earnings is focused on its durable competitive advantages and forward valuation. With the stock near its 52-week high and trading at an elevated earnings multiple, investors may be demanding strong results and guidance. Visa Unpacking the 7 Powers and Forward Valuation
• Negative Sentiment: Visa is lowering interchange rates for tens of thousands of Canadian small businesses beginning October 24. While the move may support merchant acceptance and regulatory relations, lower fees could create a modest headwind for revenue per transaction. Visa Lowers Interchange Fees

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on V. Weiss Ratings upgraded Visa from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Visa from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. President Capital lifted their target price on shares of Visa from $411.00 to $474.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $387.00 to $404.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-four have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $425.52.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $370.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $344.55. The firm has a market cap of $697.48 billion, a PE ratio of 33.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.23 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $11.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.78% and a return on equity of 67.68%. The business’s revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.22 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, insider Tullier Mahon sold 57,272 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $364.97, for a total value of $20,902,561.84. Following the transaction, the insider owned 49,662 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,125,140.14. The trade was a 53.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie Rottenberg sold 1,867 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.34, for a total value of $687,690.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $6,778,929.36. This trade represents a 9.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 78,792 shares of company stock worth $28,863,319 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Woodstock Corp lifted its holdings in Visa by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Woodstock Corp now owns 39,364 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $14,145,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the period. Echo45 Advisors LLC increased its position in Visa by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Echo45 Advisors LLC now owns 1,417 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $509,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division lifted its position in shares of Visa by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 27,509 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $9,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,310 shares during the period. Eastern Bank increased its position in shares of Visa by 1.8% during the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 317,425 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $114,060,000 after buying an additional 5,692 shares during the period. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 10.8% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 310,501 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $106,530,000 after buying an additional 30,182 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that operates one of the world’s largest electronic payments networks. Through its VisaNet platform, the company facilitates the authorization, clearing and settlement of payment transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments.

Visa provides payment products and services for credit, debit, prepaid and commercial transactions. Its offerings also include digital payment capabilities, tokenization, fraud prevention, risk management and other value-added services designed to support secure electronic commerce and contactless payments.