Visa (NYSE:V) Raised to Strong-Buy at Freedom Capital

Visa (NYSE:V) was upgraded by Freedom Capital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently commented on V. Robert W. Baird set a $425.00 price objective on Visa in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $385.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $408.00 price target (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Citigroup upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Macquarie Infrastructure restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Visa in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $392.21.

Visa Trading Up 1.6%

V opened at $319.14 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $337.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. Visa has a fifty-two week low of $299.00 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $579.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.94, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.79.

Visa (NYSE:V) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 29th. The credit-card processor reported $3.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.69 billion. Visa had a net margin of 50.23% and a return on equity of 61.74%. The business’s revenue was up 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Visa will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Visa news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.18, for a total value of $3,661,152.30. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 9,401 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,282,641.18. This represents a 52.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 2,172 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $325.93, for a total value of $707,919.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,608,789.09. The trade was a 7.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 1.6% in the third quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 1,875 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Old Port Advisors boosted its holdings in Visa by 0.9% in the third quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 3,423 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $1,169,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Visa by 0.5% during the second quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,413 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,276,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp grew its position in Visa by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Carr Financial Group Corp now owns 1,290 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Define Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 4.0% in the third quarter. Define Financial LLC now owns 779 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Visa Company Profile

Visa Inc is a global payments technology company that facilitates electronic funds transfers and digital commerce by connecting consumers, merchants, financial institutions and governments. The firm operates one of the world’s largest payment networks, providing processing, authorization, clearing and settlement services for credit, debit and prepaid card transactions. Visa’s network-based model enables partner banks and other issuers to offer branded payment products while Visa focuses on the infrastructure, standards and technologies that move money securely and efficiently around the world.

Visa’s product and service portfolio includes card-based payment products for consumers and businesses, real-time push-payment capabilities, tokenization and authentication services, fraud and risk-management tools, data analytics and APIs for fintech and merchant integration.