Citi analyst Andrew Schmidt keeps a Buy rating on Visa (V) with a $319 price target following reports that the Justice Department plans to file a lawsuit that accuses the company of anticompetitive conduct related to the U.S. debit market, likely pertaining to routing practices. The DOJ investigation has been ongoing since 2021, so this development is not a complete surprise, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Citi believes there is likely to be an incremental regulatory overhang for Visa, and legal developments “may stretch out with variable outcomes.” Visa can likely work through this, yet Citi switches its network preference to MasterCard (MA) as a result, the analyst notes.
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