Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Price Target Raised to $75.00

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) had its target price raised by Citigroup from $74.00 to $75.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the casino operator’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on LVS. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $64.47.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Down 8.7 %

Shares of NYSE:LVS opened at $45.88 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $52.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.60. The stock has a market cap of $34.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.16. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $43.77 and a fifty-two week high of $65.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The casino operator reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.13. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 41.81%. The company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 6th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.65%.

Insider Activity at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.06, for a total transaction of $5,206,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 172,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,996,020.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LVS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,898,186 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,815,760,000 after acquiring an additional 4,264,043 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,638,753 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,556,945,000 after acquiring an additional 5,439,735 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 23,298,767 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,338,514,000 after acquiring an additional 330,221 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,898,679 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $540,242,000 after acquiring an additional 394,616 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,275,127 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $554,849,000 after purchasing an additional 680,575 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 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.