Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $830,000 in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 15,400 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $830,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 222.7% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,098,518 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $592,223,000 after purchasing an additional 6,279,390 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the fourth quarter valued at $364,892,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 410.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,167,553 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $277,963,000 after purchasing an additional 4,154,753 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 33,102.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,060,288 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $197,463,000 after buying an additional 3,051,071 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 43.8% in the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,454,013 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $293,371,000 after buying an additional 1,660,823 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on LVS. Seaport Research Partners dropped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup upped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $76.75 to $78.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.28.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE LVS opened at $47.06 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 1-year low of $45.62 and a 1-year high of $70.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.27. The company has a market capitalization of $31.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.83.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 13.41%.The firm had revenue of $3.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

About Las Vegas Sands

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.