Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Seaport Research Partners dropped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings downgraded Las Vegas Sands from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $78.50 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.81.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

NYSE LVS traded up $0.20 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $46.65. 3,356,805 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,364,286. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64. The company has a market cap of $30.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.83. Las Vegas Sands has a 12-month low of $45.12 and a 12-month high of $70.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.61 and a 200 day moving average of $54.64.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 13.41%.The company had revenue of $3.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LVS. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 222.7% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,098,518 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $592,223,000 after purchasing an additional 6,279,390 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,582,962 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $462,450,000 after buying an additional 396,705 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,893,031 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $513,757,000 after buying an additional 1,246,206 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the 4th quarter valued at $364,892,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 2.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,780,266 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $203,616,000 after buying an additional 90,690 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.