V called off its $5.3 billion merger agreement with financial technology company Plaid
Blue-chip stock Visa Inc (NYSE:V) is up a modest 0.6% at $210.09 at last check, even after abandoning its $5.3 billion merger deal with financial technology company Plaid. The scrapped deal comes amid a U.S. government lawsuit aimed at stopping the proposed transaction on antitrust grounds.
Likely propping up the stock today is an array of bull notes, with Jefferies upgrading V to "buy" from "hold." The firm called it a "high-quality recovery play" after a "rare stretch of underperformance," adding in a price-target hike to $250. KBW also chimed in with a $250 target, while Keybanc upped its own to $225.
Jefferies is joining a bullish majority coming into today, with 21 of the 25 in coverage sporting a "buy" or better rating. Plus, the 12-month consensus price target ahead of today stands at $234.23 -- an 11.5% premium to current levels.
So far in 2021, Visa stock has been cooling off a bit since its Dec. 30 all-time high of $220.39, closing five of the last seven sessions lower. Nevertheless, V's 50-day moving average has contained the pullback, and the stock remains up 26% in the last nine months.
Now could be a good time to weigh in on the security's next move with options. The stock is seeing attractively priced premiums at the moment, per V's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 27%, which sits in the 15th percentile of its annual range.