Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.46.

LVS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $46.57 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The company has a market cap of $34.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $51.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.68. Las Vegas Sands has a 52-week low of $43.77 and a 52-week high of $65.58.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The casino operator reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.13. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 41.81%. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Las Vegas Sands news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.06, for a total value of $5,206,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,996,020.06. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LVS. Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,361 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $608,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 28,532 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,404,000 after buying an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 47,237 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $2,165,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 64,974 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $3,359,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 54.8% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,008 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently 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.