Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Down 1.1% – Should You Sell?

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) shares dropped 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $309.00 and last traded at $313.9040. Approximately 8,964,339 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 14% from the average daily volume of 7,865,938 shares. The stock had previously closed at $317.32.

Key Headlines Impacting Visa

Here are the key news stories impacting Visa this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Visa announced a proof-of-concept with Brale and the Canton Network to test private stablecoin settlement for institutional payments, which could make blockchain-based transactions faster and more privacy-friendly for banks and other large clients. Visa and Brale Explore Private Stablecoin Settlement for Institutional Payments
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Visa, Mastercard, Stripe and other major financial firms are working on a broader stablecoin platform suggest the payments giants may be positioning themselves to capture more of the growing digital-asset settlement market. Visa Mastercard Stablecoin Push Tests Circle USDC And Rich Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market coverage framed Visa’s stablecoin initiative as a potentially meaningful long-term benefit, with the company using blockchain pilots to reinforce its payments infrastructure and future growth story. Why Visa Stock Topped the Market on Thursday
• Neutral Sentiment: Visa also announced leadership appointments in Asia Pacific to support value-added services and Southeast Asia growth, which is constructive but not likely the main driver of near-term trading. Visa Announces Asia Pacific Leadership Appointments to Scale Value-Added Services and Southeast Asia Growth
• Negative Sentiment: News that Visa and Mastercard payments are being halted in Cuba amid U.S. sanctions is a small negative operational headline, though the market impact should be limited relative to the stablecoin developments. Visa, Mastercard Join Exodus From Cuba on Expanded US Sanctions

Analyst Ratings Changes

V has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $403.00 price target (up from $391.00) on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Truist Financial set a $371.00 price target on shares of Visa and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Visa in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $365.00 price target for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $389.00 target price on shares of Visa in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Visa presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $387.78.

Visa Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $316.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $324.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $581.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.77.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The credit-card processor reported $3.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.10 by $0.21. Visa had a net margin of 51.68% and a return on equity of 65.00%. The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.75 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.76 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Visa Inc. will post 13.09 EPS for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 12th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 12th. Visa’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.34%.

Visa announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, April 28th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the credit-card processor to purchase up to 3.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, Director Lloyd Carney sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $309.62, for a total transaction of $201,253.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,679 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $829,471.98. This trade represents a 19.53% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Chris Suh sold 10,639 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $324.81, for a total transaction of $3,455,653.59. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 9,872 shares in the company, valued at $3,206,524.32. This represents a 51.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 42,744 shares of company stock valued at $14,356,010 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of V. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position 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 worth $6,522,000 after acquiring an additional 6,883 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Visa by 68.9% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,811 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,733,000 after acquiring an additional 4,817 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 4.6% in the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 10,941 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $3,834,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Visa by 16.9% in the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 1,133 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its position in shares of Visa by 13.8% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 18,367 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $6,521,000 after acquiring an additional 2,230 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Visa Company Profile

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.