Visa Inc (NYSE:V) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The credit-card processor reported $0.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.01, Analyst Ratings Net reports. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.53 EPS. The firm earned $3.57 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

In related news, EVP William M. Sheedy sold 60,930 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.47, for a total value of $4,842,107.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 235,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,717,410.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Visa stock. Simplex Trading increased its stake in Visa Inc (NYSE:V) by 65.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The hedge fund owned 51,812 shares of the credit-card processor’s stock after buying an additional 20,441 shares during the period. Simplex Trading’s holdings in Visa were worth $4,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Shares of Visa (NYSE:V) opened at 69.33 on Friday. Visa has a 52 week low of $60.00 and a 52 week high of $81.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $168.50 billion and a PE ratio of 26.73. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $75.19 and its 200 day moving average is $74.56.

V has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Visa from $85.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 5th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Vetr upgraded shares of Visa from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $81.90 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, November 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Visa from $81.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Deutsche Bank restated a “buy” rating and set a $79.00 price objective (down previously from $91.00) on shares of Visa in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $83.80.

Visa Inc. is a payments technology company. The Company is engaged in operating a processing network, VisaNet, which facilitates authorization, clearing and settlement of payment transactions across the world. The Company provides its services to consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories for electronic payments. The Company offers fraud protection for account holders and rapid payment for merchants. The Company provides a variety of payment solutions that support payment products that issuers can offer to their account holders, such as pay now with debit, pay ahead with prepaid or pay later with credit products. The Company offers a suite of digital, eCommerce and mobile products and services.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:V

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