Visa (NYSE:V) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $351.90 and last traded at $351.26, with a volume of 6059091 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $348.02.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on V shares. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Visa from $375.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group increased their price objective on Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their target price on Visa from $375.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.73.

Visa Trading Up 0.9 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.28 and a current ratio of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $321.08 and a 200-day moving average of $296.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $652.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.97.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a net margin of 54.27% and a return on equity of 54.79%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.79%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $874,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,054,500. This represents a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of Visa stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total transaction of $11,801,589.57. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares in the company, valued at $12,789,689.82. The trade was a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,056 shares of company stock valued at $19,830,050 over the last ninety days. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Visa by 45,189.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 9,758,505 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,683,101,000 after buying an additional 9,736,958 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $1,955,403,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 17,018.7% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,949,118 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,248,079,000 after purchasing an additional 3,926,049 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Visa by 4.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 76,610,942 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $21,064,179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327,977 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 6.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 57,111,843 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,702,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,265,518 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Visa

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.