BMO Capital Markets Upgrades Visa (NYSE:V) to Strong-Buy

Visa (NYSE:V) was upgraded by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

V has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on Visa from $425.00 to $390.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Visa to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Freedom Capital raised Visa from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Piper Sandler set a $160.00 target price on Visa in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $411.00 target price (up from $398.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Visa has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $388.25.

Visa Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:V opened at $311.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $564.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.18, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $310.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $328.58. Visa has a 12-month low of $293.89 and a 12-month high of $375.51.

Visa (NYSE:V) last released its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.69 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 61.74% and a net margin of 50.23%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.75 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Visa will post 12.84 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Visa

In related news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of Visa stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total value of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares in the company, valued at $829,471.98. The trade was a 19.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Clayton Financial Group LLC raised its position in Visa by 446.2% during the fourth quarter. Clayton Financial Group LLC now owns 71 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in Visa by 102.7% during the fourth quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 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 Visa by 200.0% during the third quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 75 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 82.15% of the stock is currently 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.