Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eleven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $67.9063.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on LVS. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Seaport Research Partners reduced their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. HSBC lifted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:LVS opened at $50.57 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64. Las Vegas Sands has a 12 month low of $40.03 and a 12 month high of $70.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.45. The firm has a market cap of $33.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.81.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 118.27%. The firm had revenue of $3.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.59 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Patrick Dumont sold 60,165 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.75, for a total transaction of $3,294,033.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 511,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,028,824.50. This represents a 10.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LVS. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,251 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,207,000 after purchasing an additional 2,418 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 38.9% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 29,032 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 8,132 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 91.8% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $414,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 70.0% during the 2nd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,595 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $766,000 after purchasing an additional 7,243 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

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.