CenterBook Partners LP Buys Shares of 70,488 Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

CenterBook Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 70,488 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $4,588,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 0.3% during the third quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 53,945 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $2,902,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 7.8% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,449 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 2.4% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 8,528 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 5.5% during the third quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,945 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 6,859 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on LVS shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered Las Vegas Sands from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Seaport Research Partners dropped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $76.75 to $78.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.91.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Patrick Dumont sold 60,165 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $28,028,824.50. This represents a 10.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

LVS opened at $50.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $33.66 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $52.84 and a 200-day moving average of $57.72. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52-week low of $40.03 and a 52-week high of $70.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92.

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

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is 44.44%.

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.