Swiss National Bank Trims Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Swiss National Bank decreased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,018,200 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 51,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.15% of Las Vegas Sands worth $54,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LVS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the second quarter worth about $134,179,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,072,014 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,874,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,806 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4,504.2% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,028,808 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $55,340,000 after buying an additional 1,006,463 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4,226.7% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,012,800 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $44,067,000 after buying an additional 989,392 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 116.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,498 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $74,272,000 after buying an additional 922,738 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on LVS. Seaport Research Partners cut their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.55.

Insider Activity

In other Las Vegas Sands news, major shareholder Miriam Adelson sold 77,991 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $5,269,071.96. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 23,333,441 shares in the company, valued at $1,576,407,273.96. This represents a 0.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 1,198,650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total transaction of $79,925,982.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,077,991 shares of company stock valued at $138,756,613. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE LVS opened at $54.73 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.58. The business’s 50 day moving average is $58.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.96. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52-week low of $30.18 and a 52-week high of $70.45. The firm has a market cap of $36.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.88.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The casino operator reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.08. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 91.40% and a net margin of 12.50%.The business had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a positive change from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.28%.

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.