Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.45.

LVS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Macquarie increased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $75.50 to $76.75 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS stock opened at $65.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $60.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.97. Las Vegas Sands has a 12 month low of $30.18 and a 12 month high of $70.45.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.16. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 73.14% and a net margin of 12.69%.The company had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Las Vegas Sands news, CFO Randy Hyzak sold 57,545 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.45, for a total value of $3,823,865.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 53,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,555,008.55. The trade was a 51.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 382,905 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total transaction of $25,421,062.95. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 3,104,062 shares of company stock worth $194,591,786. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LVS. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 410.2% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,167,553 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $277,963,000 after buying an additional 4,154,753 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the second quarter valued at approximately $134,179,000. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 36.8% during the 2nd quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 10,040,975 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $436,883,000 after purchasing an additional 2,698,398 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,072,014 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,874,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,806 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 43.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,454,013 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $293,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660,823 shares during the period. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Las Vegas Sands Company Profile

Las Vegas Sands Corp., together with its subsidiaries, develops, owns, and operates integrated resorts in Macao and Singapore. It owns and operates The Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, the Londoner Macao, The Parisian Macao, The Plaza Macao and Four Seasons Hotel Macao, Cotai Strip, and the Sands Macao in Macao, the People’s Republic of China; and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.