Marshall Wace LLP Lowers Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Marshall Wace LLP reduced its position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 62.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,146,839 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 5,131,688 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.42% of Las Vegas Sands worth $139,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LVS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 0.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,107,775 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,918,472,000 after purchasing an additional 209,589 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,170,552 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,663,219,000 after buying an additional 531,799 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 15.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,351,573 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $502,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,754 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,263,604 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $554,282,000 after acquiring an additional 669,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 0.8% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,500,248 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $376,136,000 after purchasing an additional 68,568 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

NYSE LVS opened at $42.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $40.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 1.57. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 1-year low of $36.62 and a 1-year high of $55.65. The company has a market cap of $31.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 1.11.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The casino operator reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 44.41% and a net margin of 14.08%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.46 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.65%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LVS. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $51.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group cut shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Macquarie cut their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays cut their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.25.

Las Vegas Sands Profile

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.