Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Price Target Raised to $76.75 at Citigroup

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) had its price objective hoisted by Citigroup from $75.50 to $76.75 in a research note published on Thursday morning,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the casino operator’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research raised Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Monday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.45.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

LVS traded down $0.97 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $65.23. 11,241,010 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,645,500. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $60.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.54. Las Vegas Sands has a 52-week low of $30.18 and a 52-week high of $70.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42. The company has a market capitalization of $44.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.97.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 73.14% and a net margin of 12.69%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.25%.

Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 382,905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.39, for a total value of $25,421,062.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Patrick Dumont sold 135,603 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.96, for a total value of $9,215,579.88. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 446,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,351,479.68. The trade was a 23.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 3,104,062 shares of company stock worth $194,591,786 in the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LVS. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 10.9% during the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 45,175 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,745,000 after purchasing an additional 4,427 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 47.5% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 568,557 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $21,963,000 after buying an additional 183,203 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 112,784 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $4,349,000 after acquiring an additional 7,639 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 88,583 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $3,422,000 after acquiring an additional 3,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 11.7% during the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 15,686 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $606,000 after acquiring an additional 1,644 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.