Visa (NYSE:V) Price Target Raised to $326.00

Visa (NYSE:V) had its price objective upped by Morgan Stanley from $322.00 to $326.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the credit-card processor’s stock.

V has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Visa from $279.00 to $308.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Monness Crespi & Hardt restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Visa from $290.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Visa from $321.00 to $319.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $320.70.

Visa Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE V opened at $290.74 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a current ratio of 1.28. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $281.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $273.63. Visa has a twelve month low of $239.20 and a twelve month high of $296.34. The stock has a market cap of $529.82 billion, a PE ratio of 29.88, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.95.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.58 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 54.96% and a return on equity of 53.16%. The business had revenue of $9.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.33 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Visa will post 11.17 EPS for the current year.

Visa Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 12th. This is a positive change from Visa’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. Visa’s payout ratio is currently 21.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,620 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $276.37, for a total value of $2,382,309.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 538 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $148,687.06. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 970.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 107 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Visa in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 211.9% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

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.