Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS Shares Sold by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S decreased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 29.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 59,263 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 25,193 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $3,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LVS. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $592,223,000 after buying an additional 6,279,390 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 58.4% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,186,257 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $532,843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018,704 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,893,031 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $513,757,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,206 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the fourth quarter worth about $364,892,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $293,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660,823 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $69.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $76.75 to $78.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.91.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Down 2.0%

NYSE:LVS opened at $47.73 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.81. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $40.94 and a one year high of $70.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $52.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $56.51. 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 data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Las Vegas Sands’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 EPS 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 $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is 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.