Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Macquarie lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.50.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

NYSE:LVS opened at $52.41 on Friday. Las Vegas Sands has a 52 week low of $30.18 and a 52 week high of $56.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.58. The company has a market capitalization of $37.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.03. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $44.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.14.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.26. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 51.16% and a net margin of 12.16%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the casino operator to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 876 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 10,257 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 7,773 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 64.1% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,142 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 35,623 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,830,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Las Vegas Sands

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.