L & S Advisors Inc Sells 15,641 Shares of Visa Inc. (NYSE:V)

Key Points

• L & S Advisors Inc drastically reduced its holdings in Visa Inc. by 94.7%, selling 15,641 shares and retaining only 873 shares now valued at approximately $306,000.
• Visa recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per share, with an upcoming payment date of September 2nd, reflecting a 0.7% dividend yield.
• Despite recent insider sales amounting to over $32 million, Wall Street analysts maintain a generally positive outlook on Visa, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of approximately $380.84.

L & S Advisors Inc trimmed its holdings in Visa Inc. (NYSE:V - Free Report) by 94.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 873 shares of the credit-card processor's stock after selling 15,641 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc's holdings in Visa were worth $306,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FWL Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Visa by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. FWL Investment Management LLC now owns 6,344 shares of the credit-card processor's stock valued at $2,005,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 2.9% during the first quarter. Yeomans Consulting Group Inc. now owns 1,027 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $360,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 0.8% during the first quarter. Semus Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,209,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Visa by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Capstone Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 872 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $276,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Headinvest LLC increased its holdings in Visa by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Headinvest LLC now owns 4,003 shares of the credit-card processor's stock worth $1,265,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.15% of the company's stock.

Visa Trading Down 1.9%

Shares of V opened at $338.81 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $625.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.09, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.12. Visa Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $254.51 and a fifty-two week high of $375.51. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $355.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $346.75.

Visa (NYSE:V - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The credit-card processor reported $2.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.85 by $0.13. Visa had a net margin of 52.16% and a return on equity of 58.93%. The firm had revenue of $10.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.42 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Visa Inc. will post 11.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Visa Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.59 per share. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. Visa's dividend payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Paul D. Fabara sold 11,636 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $375.00, for a total transaction of $4,363,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 26,413 shares in the company, valued at $9,904,875. This represents a 30.58% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Ryan Mcinerney sold 8,630 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.82, for a total transaction of $3,053,466.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,001.34. This represents a 94.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 89,913 shares of company stock valued at $32,902,432 over the last quarter. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on V shares. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $383.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Visa in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued an "in-line" rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Visa from $386.00 to $402.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Visa from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Visa from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $359.00 to $425.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $380.84.

Visa 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.

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