Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Up 1.2% on Earnings Beat

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares shot up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as high as $283.00 and last traded at $277.38. 2,823,646 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 5,834,916 shares. The stock had previously closed at $274.11.

The credit-card processor reported $2.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.43 by $0.08. Visa had a return on equity of 50.02% and a net margin of 53.92%. The business had revenue of $8.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.09 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. Visa’s payout ratio is presently 23.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on V. Barclays upped their target price on Visa from $304.00 to $319.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Visa in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $320.00 price target for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Visa from $315.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $265.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Visa from $325.00 to $335.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $302.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In other Visa news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,365,954.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,200 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.36, for a total transaction of $2,298,952.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $150,833.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,615 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $278.88, for a total value of $729,271.20. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,898 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,365,954.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 18,965 shares of company stock valued at $5,256,352. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of V. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $3,895,015,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 17,418.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,737,229 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,233,338,000 after acquiring an additional 4,710,188 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Visa by 4.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 50,357,747 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $11,582,785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,257,605 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa during the third quarter worth $358,349,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its holdings in Visa by 14,306.3% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,500,270 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $390,595,000 after acquiring an additional 1,489,856 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

Visa Stock Up 0.3 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $279.44 and a 200 day moving average of $263.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $505.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45.

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.