Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS Shares Bought by Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 293.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,061 shares of the casino operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,184 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $1,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 2nd quarter worth about $134,179,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,072,014 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,874,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822,806 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 4,226.7% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,012,800 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $44,067,000 after purchasing an additional 989,392 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 116.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,498 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $74,272,000 after purchasing an additional 922,738 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 769.4% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 632,705 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $34,033,000 after purchasing an additional 559,926 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Miriam Adelson sold 77,991 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $5,269,071.96. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 23,333,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,576,407,273.96. This represents a 0.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 1,198,650 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total value of $79,925,982.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,477,991 shares of company stock valued at $165,323,554. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $55.12 on Friday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $30.18 and a fifty-two week high of $70.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.58, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $37.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.88.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The casino operator reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.08. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.50% and a return on equity of 91.40%. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This is a positive change from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is presently 51.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on LVS. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays set a $64.00 price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.55.

Las Vegas Sands Profile

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) is a global developer and operator of integrated resorts, focused on large-scale properties that combine casino gaming with hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, retail, dining, and entertainment. The company’s operations center on developing and managing full-service resort complexes that serve both leisure and business travelers, with emphasis on convention and trade-show business in addition to gaming revenue streams.

The company’s portfolio has included prominent properties in North America and Asia, most notably The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, along with a significant presence in Macau through multiple integrated resorts.