Visa (NYSE:V) Lowered to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

Visa (NYSE:V) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday.

V has been the topic of several other reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Visa in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Visa from $361.00 to $396.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Friday, January 31st. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Visa in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Visa from $350.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-one have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Visa currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $355.84.

Visa Stock Up 0.2 %

V stock opened at $335.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market cap of $623.98 billion, a PE ratio of 33.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.94. Visa has a 12 month low of $252.70 and a 12 month high of $366.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $341.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $319.63.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Visa news, General Counsel Julie B. Rottenberg sold 2,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $874,480.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 11,925 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,054,500. The trade was a 17.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 39,350 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.20, for a total value of $12,875,320.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 26,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,642,333.60. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 143,205 shares of company stock worth $48,842,490. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Visa

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Visa in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Visa during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Modus Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Visa during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Compass Planning Associates Inc acquired a new position in Visa during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.15% of the company’s stock.

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.