Visa (NYSE:V) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $360.27 and last traded at $358.66, with a volume of 1407529 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $350.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

V has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Visa from $360.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Visa from $340.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $353.96.

Visa Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $674.99 billion, a PE ratio of 36.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $333.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $305.34.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. Research analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Visa’s payout ratio is 23.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total value of $815,313.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,569,094.56. The trade was a 34.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 55,885 shares of company stock worth $19,161,447. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $724,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. FWL Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $2,005,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 939 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $297,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Warther Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Finally, Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,292,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.