Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Purchases Shares of 16,454 Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 16,454 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,071,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 358.4% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 227,278 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $12,225,000 after purchasing an additional 177,695 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 67,446 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $4,390,000 after purchasing an additional 19,488 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 4th quarter valued at $2,051,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 411.5% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 44,208 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after acquiring an additional 35,566 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 2,655.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 878,022 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $57,150,000 after acquiring an additional 846,155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In other Las Vegas Sands news, CEO Patrick Dumont sold 60,165 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.75, for a total value of $3,294,033.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 511,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,028,824.50. This represents a 10.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $76.75 to $78.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Seaport Research Partners dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.91.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LVS opened at $50.30 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $52.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.82. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 1 year low of $40.03 and a 1 year high of $70.45. The company has a market capitalization of $33.33 billion, a PE ratio of 18.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $3.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 118.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

Las Vegas Sands Company 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.