Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Stock Price Down 0.5%

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) traded down 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $46.40 and last traded at $46.50. 1,064,908 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 4,796,344 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.72.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LVS. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.46.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 0.1 %

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market capitalization of $34.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.18.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The casino operator reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 42.34% and a net margin of 13.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

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

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.