Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Takes $4.30 Million Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 79,907 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $4,298,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 4.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,072,014 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,874,063,000 after buying an additional 1,822,806 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 36.8% during the 2nd quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 10,040,975 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $436,883,000 after acquiring an additional 2,698,398 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,902,619 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $430,863,000 after purchasing an additional 459,821 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,823,966 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $382,294,000 after purchasing an additional 31,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $134,179,000. 39.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on LVS. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $63.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Macquarie upped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Barclays increased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.05.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 1,198,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total transaction of $79,925,982.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Patrick Dumont sold 135,603 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total transaction of $9,215,579.88. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 446,608 shares in the company, valued at $30,351,479.68. This trade represents a 23.29% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 5,182,053 shares of company stock worth $333,348,399 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $59.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.09, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 0.97. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $30.18 and a one year high of $70.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $64.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $57.71.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.16. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 73.14% and a net margin of 12.69%.The business had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

About Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) is a global developer and operator of integrated resorts, focused on large-scale properties that combine casino gaming with hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, retail, dining, and entertainment. The company’s operations center on developing and managing full-service resort complexes that serve both leisure and business travelers, with emphasis on convention and trade-show business in addition to gaming revenue streams.

The company’s portfolio has included prominent properties in North America and Asia, most notably The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, along with a significant presence in Macau through multiple integrated resorts.