Insider Selling: Visa (NYSE:V) Insider Sells 3,401 Shares of Company Stock

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) insider Paul Fabara sold 3,401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.09, for a total transaction of $1,438,929.09. Following the transaction, the insider owned 33,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,348,251.17. This trade represents a 9.11% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of Visa stock traded down $5.29 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $420.26. The company had a trading volume of 5,634,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,510,172. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $388.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $346.16. The stock has a market cap of $749.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.08, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Visa Inc. has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $442.23.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The credit-card processor reported $3.48 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $12.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.09 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.20% and a return on equity of 70.50%. Visa’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.98 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 15.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a $0.78 dividend. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $3.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is 25.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on V. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Visa from $420.00 to $430.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $460.00 price target (up from $435.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective (up from $445.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on Visa from $415.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and thirty-five have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $443.35.

Institutional Trading of Visa

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. John Boyer Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Portfolio Resources Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, DecisionPoint Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 307.7% during the 3rd quarter. DecisionPoint Financial LLC now owns 106 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Recent Visa Headlines

These are some of the V headlines that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa and Anchorage Digital are enabling eligible partners to settle obligations on VisaNet using Western Union’s USDPT stablecoin. The move adds another settlement option and could support faster, around-the-clock payments. Visa expands stablecoin services with Anchorage
• Positive Sentiment: Visa expanded QR-payment acceptance in Hong Kong with Octopus, allowing tourists to pay at participating merchants using Visa-powered Scan to Pay. This broadens international acceptance and payment convenience. Visa and Octopus expand QR payment acceptance
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains favorable: Bernstein reiterated Outperform and raised its price target to $486, while Citigroup maintained Buy and set a $490 target. Bernstein names Visa among preferred payment stocks Citigroup recommendations

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc. operates a global payments network that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. Its network supports the authorization, clearing and settlement of electronic payments, including transactions made in person and online. The company’s services include payment processing, fraud prevention, identity and risk management, and money-transfer solutions such as Visa Direct. Visa-branded credit, debit and prepaid cards are issued by participating financial institutions; Visa generally provides the network and related services rather than issuing cards or extending credit directly to consumers.