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

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) traded down 1.2% during trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $330.14 and last traded at $330.4130. 6,970,480 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 9% from the average session volume of 6,403,418 shares. The stock had previously closed at $334.44.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Visa from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. Macquarie dropped their price objective on shares of Visa from $425.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Citigroup upgraded Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $408.00 price target (up previously from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.00.

Visa Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $339.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $347.15. The firm has a market cap of $601.93 billion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.82.

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

Visa Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.59. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 10,485 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.00, for a total value of $3,575,385.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares in the company, valued at $183,117. This trade represents a 95.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Lloyd Carney sold 900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.48, for a total value of $302,832.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,468 shares in the company, valued at $830,432.64. The trade was a 26.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 24,042 shares of company stock valued at $8,175,152 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of V. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 50.1% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 20,635 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $6,522,000 after purchasing an additional 6,883 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 68.9% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $3,733,000 after buying an additional 4,817 shares in the last quarter. IFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Visa by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 4,679 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,640,000 after buying an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Visa by 439.9% during the 1st quarter. Liberty Wealth Management LLC now owns 59,696 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $20,921,000 after buying an additional 48,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cheviot Value Management LLC increased its position in Visa by 8.0% during the first quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC now owns 71,139 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $24,802,000 after buying an additional 5,253 shares in the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.