Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Down 0.5% – Should You Sell?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares fell 0.5% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $345.51 and last traded at $348.84. 1,577,456 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 6,547,794 shares. The stock had previously closed at $350.46.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Visa from $326.00 to $371.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Bank of America increased their target price on Visa from $331.00 to $363.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Visa has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Visa Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $643.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $345.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $316.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Visa (NYSE:V) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The credit-card processor reported $2.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.66 by $0.09. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.79%.

Insider Transactions at Visa

In related news, CAO Peter M. Andreski sold 2,332 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.62, for a total transaction of $815,313.84. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,569,094.56. This represents a 34.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Tullier Kelly Mahon sold 33,741 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.77, for a total value of $11,801,589.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,789,689.82. This trade represents a 47.99 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 134,585 shares of company stock valued at $45,821,697. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Visa in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Visa by 48.5% in the 4th quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 98 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc bought a new position in shares of Visa in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.