Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price

Visa (NYSE:V) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $322.00 to $326.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the credit-card processor’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 12.46% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on V. Macquarie reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, September 27th. Bank of America increased their price target on Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, September 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Visa from $315.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Visa from $321.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.07.

Visa Price Performance

V opened at $289.89 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a fifty day moving average of $280.53 and a 200 day moving average of $273.50. Visa has a 52-week low of $232.99 and a 52-week high of $296.34. The stock has a market cap of $530.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.39, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.96.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.72% and a return on equity of 51.94%. The firm had revenue of $9.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Visa will post 9.92 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares in the company, valued at $148,687.06. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its position in Visa by 970.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the third quarter worth about $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 211.9% during the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa in the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.