Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Down 1.7% on Insider Selling

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) were down 1.7% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $319.80 and last traded at $320.77. Approximately 6,794,667 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 7,731,953 shares. The stock had previously closed at $326.42.

Specifically, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 9,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,206,524.32. This trade represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on V shares. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Visa in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Daiwa Securities Group raised Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Loop Capital started coverage on Visa in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target for the company. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $160.00 price target on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.67.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Trump said he urged China to open its credit card market more to Visa, raising hopes for future international growth if market access improves. Reuters related coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Visa is expanding digital identity and card activation tools, while also launching AI-powered fan intelligence capabilities, reinforcing its innovation and product-growth story. Visa Links Tap Identity And AI Fan Data To Its Growth Story
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted strong spending trends and digital payments adoption, which generally support transaction volume for Visa’s network. Credit Card Charges Show This Glaring Divergence With The Economy
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa CFO Chris Suh sold shares in a disclosed insider transaction, which may slightly pressure sentiment but does not change the company’s operating outlook. SEC Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: Separate news about delays in U.S. green-card processing and Hungary’s visa-worker policy are mostly unrelated to Visa Inc.’s business and should have limited direct impact on the stock. US Delays Green Card Processing For Indians In Key Visa Categories

Visa Stock Up 0.9%

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $311.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $325.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $583.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.78.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a return on equity of 65.00% and a net margin of 51.68%.The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.34%.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to buy up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 82,798,151 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $29,038,140,000 after acquiring an additional 626,821 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 44,042,586 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $15,411,395,000 after acquiring an additional 388,996 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Visa by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,092,294 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $14,411,480,000 after acquiring an additional 716,218 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.8% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,792,246 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $8,463,484,000 after acquiring an additional 193,288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.