Fisher Asset Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Fisher Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 54.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,299 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 36,684 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $1,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LVS. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 797.5% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 13,400 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 11,907 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 32,846 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,269,000 after buying an additional 3,938 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,249,208 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,593,457,000 after buying an additional 2,267,307 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,153,220 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $83,179,000 after acquiring an additional 15,158 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 21.1% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,629,899 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $62,963,000 after acquiring an additional 283,455 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, EVP D. Zachary Hudson sold 53,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.37, for a total transaction of $3,747,695.09. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 13,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $966,531.95. This represents a 79.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Irwin Chafetz sold 30,000 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $2,092,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 70,949 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,949,402.24. This represents a 29.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,704,062 shares of company stock worth $168,024,845. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LVS. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Barclays raised their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.60.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $66.27 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $59.40 and its 200 day moving average is $52.63. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $30.18 and a one year high of $70.45.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 73.14% and a net margin of 12.69%.Las Vegas Sands’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 4th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.25%.

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.