BNP Paribas Upgrades Visa (NYSE:V) to Outperform

BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Visa (NYSE:V) from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $325.00 target price on the credit-card processor’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on V. Citigroup cut their price objective on Visa from $321.00 to $319.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. William Blair raised shares of Visa to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $322.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $309.54.

Visa Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:V opened at $279.48 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $266.53 and its 200-day moving average is $273.14. The firm has a market cap of $509.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.96. Visa has a 12 month low of $227.78 and a 12 month high of $290.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.42. The business had revenue of $8.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.92 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa will post 9.92 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.24%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $148,687.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Alaethes Wealth LLC boosted its position in Visa by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Alaethes Wealth LLC now owns 8,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,302,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Jessup Wealth Management Inc boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Jessup Wealth Management Inc now owns 5,051 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,410,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Visa by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Long Run Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Visa by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Cordatus Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,793 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Visa by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,191 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 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.