Barclays Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Stock

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) had its target price upped by Barclays from $58.00 to $61.00 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the casino operator’s stock. Barclays‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 13.24% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Argus cut Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.42.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

NYSE:LVS opened at $53.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $39.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.10. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $36.62 and a fifty-two week high of $56.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.62.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.09). Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 44.26% and a net margin of 13.29%. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total value of $3,191,114.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total value of $1,264,848.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 60,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,129,724. The trade was a 28.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 203,732 shares of company stock valued at $10,861,707. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 7,647.7% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 443,325 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $19,617,000 after purchasing an additional 437,603 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 97.2% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 89,743 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $4,518,000 after purchasing an additional 44,223 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,627,422 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $283,284,000 after buying an additional 77,807 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $619,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 29.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 833,487 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $36,882,000 after buying an additional 191,805 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

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.