Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) saw a significant drop in short interest in June. As of June 30th, there was short interest totalling 22,900,000 shares, a drop of 19.9% from the June 15th total of 28,580,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 8,140,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Visa Stock Performance

NYSE V opened at $265.61 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $272.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $273.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $485.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.95. Visa has a 1-year low of $227.68 and a 1-year high of $290.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The credit-card processor reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.62 billion. Visa had a net margin of 53.87% and a return on equity of 51.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.09 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Visa will post 9.94 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,950.05. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Visa news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 25,293 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.15, for a total value of $7,009,954.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 17,894 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,959,322.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 909 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.55, for a total value of $250,474.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 2,591 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $713,950.05. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Westend Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Visa in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Valued Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on V. Macquarie raised their target price on Visa from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Visa from $297.00 to $299.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Visa from $335.00 to $330.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Visa from $314.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $304.44.

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.