Visa (NYSE:V) Shares Down 1.8% Following Insider Selling

Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) dropped 1.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $372.22 and last traded at $372.40. Approximately 5,623,747 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 7,841,654 shares. The stock had previously closed at $379.37.

Specifically, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,028 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.35, for a total value of $773,377.80. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,404 shares in the company, valued at $7,018,365.40. The trade was a 9.93% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

V has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $406.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Visa from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 price target (up from $410.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and twenty-four have assigned a Buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $416.62.

Visa Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $360.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $331.83. The stock has a market cap of $664.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.23 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $11.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.40 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 67.68% and a net margin of 50.78%.Visa’s quarterly revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.98 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 13.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Visa’s payout ratio is 22.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Visa

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cresta Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Visa by 200.0% during the 3rd quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Philadelphia Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Visa in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, RHL Group LLC purchased a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. 82.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Visa

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.