Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS)

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors bought 22,700 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 53% compared to the average daily volume of 14,872 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LVS. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the first quarter worth $183,836,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the second quarter valued at about $134,179,000. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 36.8% in the second quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 10,040,975 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $436,883,000 after purchasing an additional 2,698,398 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,249,208 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,593,457,000 after purchasing an additional 2,267,307 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4,226.7% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,012,800 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $44,067,000 after purchasing an additional 989,392 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Monday, July 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.80.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS opened at $51.07 on Friday. Las Vegas Sands has a 12 month low of $30.18 and a 12 month high of $58.05. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.53.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.26. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.16% and a return on equity of 55.37%. The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.51%.

Las Vegas Sands Company Profile

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.