Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 4,125 Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Fifth Third Bancorp decreased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 15.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,969 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 4,125 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $956,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 37.5% in the second 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 during the last quarter. Center for Financial Planning Inc. bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands in the first quarter worth about $42,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 133.1% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,499 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 856 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 53.8% in the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,361 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 27.4% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,272 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $99,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on LVS shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.80.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS stock opened at $53.98 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $37.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.26, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.04. The company’s 50 day moving average is $53.52 and its 200 day moving average is $45.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.53. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52-week low of $30.18 and a 52-week high of $58.05.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.26. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.16% and a return on equity of 55.37%. Las Vegas Sands’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.51%.

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.