Visa (NYSE:V) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $322.28 and last traded at $322.29, with a volume of 562147 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $319.62.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on V. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Visa from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Visa from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup increased their price target on Visa from $326.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Visa from $314.00 to $331.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $332.81.

Visa Trading Down 0.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $602.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.25, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day moving average of $314.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $289.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.49 billion. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 12th were given a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 12th. This is a boost from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,171 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.97, for a total transaction of $668,602.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 17,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,510,815.18. This represents a 10.82 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $317.78, for a total transaction of $2,739,263.60. 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in Visa by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Phoenix Wealth Advisors now owns 964 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Unionview LLC raised its stake in shares of Visa by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Unionview LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,164 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Presilium Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Presilium Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,503 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $475,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.