Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.58.

LVS has been the subject of several research reports. Macquarie increased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays reduced their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $61.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $51.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th.

Insider Activity at Las Vegas Sands

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total transaction of $3,191,114.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,824,289 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $3,021,205,000 after purchasing an additional 12,304,533 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,810,351 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $709,300,000 after purchasing an additional 160,711 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,662,548 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $598,988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,963 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 29.8% during the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 9,382,267 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $481,873,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,829 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 159.6% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,130,486 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $459,630,000 after purchasing an additional 5,612,975 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS opened at $43.38 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09. The company has a market capitalization of $31.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.02, a PEG ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $47.80 and a 200 day moving average of $46.93. Las Vegas Sands has a 12 month low of $36.62 and a 12 month high of $56.60.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The casino operator reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.04). Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.80% and a return on equity of 43.76%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.76%.

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.