Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Up 1.2% After Earnings Beat

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price was up 1.2% on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $283.00 and last traded at $277.38. Approximately 2,823,646 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 5,834,916 shares. The stock had previously closed at $274.11.

The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The firm had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.09 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Visa Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $265.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Visa from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $307.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $302.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares in the company, valued at approximately $150,833.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total value of $2,298,952.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 this hyperlink. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,965 shares of company stock worth $5,256,352 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Visa in the fourth quarter worth about $3,895,015,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 17,418.7% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,737,229 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,233,338,000 after purchasing an additional 4,710,188 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 4.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,257,605 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the third quarter worth about $358,349,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado grew its holdings in Visa by 14,306.3% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,500,270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $390,595,000 after purchasing an additional 1,489,856 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Trading Up 1.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $508.71 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $279.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $263.90.

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.