Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $830,000 in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 15,400 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $830,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LVS. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 25.0% during the first quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 8,575 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $462,000 after buying an additional 1,716 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 44.2% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 24,138 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,301,000 after buying an additional 7,404 shares during the last quarter. OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 1st quarter worth about $1,703,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 13.9% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 16,506 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $890,000 after acquiring an additional 2,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 30,000 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,616,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LVS. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, UBS Group set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Thursday. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.28.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 0.1%

Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $47.06 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $55.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.83. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52 week low of $45.62 and a 52 week high of $70.45.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $3.58 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 for the quarter was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is 44.44%.

Las Vegas Sands Profile

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.