Visa (NYSE:V) Trading Down 1.2% – Time to Sell?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price fell 1.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $334.82 and last traded at $336.74. 5,394,011 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the average session volume of 6,403,597 shares. The stock had previously closed at $340.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group set a $425.00 target price on Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $408.00 price objective (up from $396.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on Visa in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $400.00.

Visa Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $344.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $348.52. The stock has a market cap of $617.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.98, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.08.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.97 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $10.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.15% and a return on equity of 60.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is an increase from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.30, for a total value of $3,589,015.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 537 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $183,815.10. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,027 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.02, for a total transaction of $697,328.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,102,438.50. The trade was a 14.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of V. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its stake in shares of Visa by 14.5% in the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 455,183 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $159,523,000 after purchasing an additional 57,800 shares during the period. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 7.5% in the second quarter. Precedent Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,588 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $564,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Visa in the second quarter valued at about $862,000. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Iron Gate Global Advisors LLC now owns 62,890 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $22,040,000 after buying an additional 3,484 shares during the period. Finally, NatWest Group plc grew its stake in shares of Visa by 43.8% in the 2nd quarter. NatWest Group plc now owns 45,660 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $16,212,000 after buying an additional 13,912 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

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.