Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Makes New Investment in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd purchased a new position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,088 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 2.5% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 26,649 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,222,000 after purchasing an additional 643 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 1.4% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 29,896 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the third quarter worth approximately $115,000. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 10,071 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $462,000 after acquiring an additional 2,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 139,386 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $6,389,000 after purchasing an additional 35,804 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on LVS. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. Mizuho decreased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. 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 report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 100,000 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,801 shares in the company, valued at $8,996,020.06. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 0.2 %

Las Vegas Sands stock traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $44.88. 5,878,123 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,002,287. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $43.77 and a one year high of $61.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $48.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The company has a market cap of $33.44 billion, a PE ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 0.84 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.13. The company 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 38.65%.

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.