Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Stock Price Up 0.4%

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)’s share price shot up 0.4% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $47.25 and last traded at $47.19. 1,046,625 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 4,800,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.46.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $50.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.18.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The casino operator reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.13. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 42.34%. The company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is 38.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,898,186 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,815,760,000 after purchasing an additional 4,264,043 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,275,127 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $554,849,000 after purchasing an additional 680,575 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 6.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,814,819 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $507,426,000 after buying an additional 600,002 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the fourth quarter valued at $266,538,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,356,682 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $263,602,000 after buying an additional 633,028 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.