Visa (NYSE:V) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at BNP Paribas Exane

BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Visa (NYSE:V) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on V. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price objective on shares of Visa and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $387.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $398.36.

Visa Stock Performance

Shares of V stock opened at $355.94 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $638.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.75. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $335.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $325.08. Visa has a 52 week low of $293.89 and a 52 week high of $365.14.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.75 billion. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Visa will post 13.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Visa declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the credit-card processor to reacquire up to 3.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 23.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of Visa stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $729,720.00. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,625,440. The trade was a 9.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 31,455 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.14, for a total transaction of $10,699,103.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 15,174 shares in the company, valued at $5,161,284.36. This trade represents a 67.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 75,581 shares of company stock worth $25,627,975. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of V. Invariant Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $969,000. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 58.1% during the 1st quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 4,201 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,270,000 after acquiring an additional 1,543 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 160,975,832 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $56,455,834,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,343 shares during the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Visa by 30.1% in the 4th quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 28,922 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $10,143,000 after acquiring an additional 6,688 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Trust Services Inc. bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $15,966,000. Institutional investors 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.