Visa (NYSE:V) Stock Price Down 6.5% Following Insider Selling

Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)’s stock price fell 6.5% during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $348.00 and last traded at $347.13. 4,310,322 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 6,988,399 shares. The stock had previously closed at $371.40.

Specifically, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total value of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,904,875. This trade represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

V has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup started coverage on Visa in a report on Monday, June 2nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Visa from $370.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Visa from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $359.00 to $425.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $395.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $372.80.

Visa Trading Down 7.0%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $348.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $337.17. The stock has a market cap of $637.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.91, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94.

Visa (NYSE:V) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $9.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.57 billion. Visa had a return on equity of 54.79% and a net margin of 54.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.51 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 EPS for the current year.

Visa Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 13th. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. Visa’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of V. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC now owns 2,291 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $724,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. raised its position in Visa by 2.9% in the first quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $360,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Visa by 0.8% during the first quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Warther Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Visa by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Warther Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,935 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock worth $928,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 82.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.