Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 3.8% – Here’s What Happened

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) traded up 3.8% during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $436.76 and last traded at $436.2120. Approximately 9,671,524 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 29% from the average daily volume of 7,487,305 shares. The stock had previously closed at $420.42.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Verifone has deployed Visa’s Featurespace fraud-screening platform across its payment gateways. Its real-time, adaptive risk assessments are designed to help merchants prevent fraud and chargebacks while avoiding declined legitimate transactions. The rollout is evidence of adoption for Visa’s security services, although no financial terms were disclosed. Read article: Verifone Turns to Visa’s Featurespace to Combat Fraud
• Positive Sentiment: Visa raised its quarterly dividend by more than 16%, from $0.67 to $0.78 per share. The increase accompanies double-digit year-over-year revenue growth and a recent quarterly earnings beat, reinforcing the picture of a growing business with capacity to return cash to shareholders. Read article: Will Earnings Beat Change Visa Stock’s Narrative
• Positive Sentiment: Bill Ackman cited Visa favorably, and Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target to $500 while retaining an Overweight rating, adding to the bullish analyst and investor commentary. Read article: Visa Stocks Rise With Higher Cantor Target
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Ryan McInerney sold 5,875 shares, reducing his reported stake by about 28%. The sale was made under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan, which makes it less informative as a signal of his current view of Visa’s prospects. Read SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa is near a 52-week high after a strong advance, which may make the shares more sensitive to valuation concerns or profit-taking. Former CEO Joseph Saunders’ death was also reported, but the news indicates no operational or financial effect on the company. Read article: Former Visa CEO Joseph Saunders Dies

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on V. Loop Capital increased their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Visa from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $460.00 price target (up from $435.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $420.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Visa from $420.00 to $438.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have given 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 $440.03.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average is $383.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $343.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $778.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.80.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $12.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.09 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.20% and a return on equity of 70.50%. Visa’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 15.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.74%.

Insider Activity at Visa

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 1,867 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.34, for a total transaction of $687,690.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,778,929.36. The trade was a 9.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 5,875 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $416.22, for a total value of $2,445,292.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,315,722.28. The trade was a 27.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 27,395 shares of company stock worth $10,406,050. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of V. Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.0% in the third quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Argyle Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Visa by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Argyle Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,912 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,406,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Visa by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 752 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Concorde Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Concorde Asset Management LLC now owns 728 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellis Investment Partners LLC boosted its position in Visa by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,363 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $490,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Visa

Visa Inc (NYSE: V) is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic payments between consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments. Through its VisaNet network, the company authorizes, clears and settles transactions made with Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards, while generally not issuing cards, extending credit or setting cardholder account terms.

Visa provides payment products and services for consumer, commercial and government payments, as well as digital commerce and money movement.