Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP lessened its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 17.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 195,197 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 42,346 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $10,500,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Westside Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 48.0% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 512 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the period. Total Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 549.5% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 630 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MAI Capital Management lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 78.4% in the third quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 710 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the period. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Las Vegas Sands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $75.50 to $76.75 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Macquarie Infrastructure reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners cut their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.55.

Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 1,198,650 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total value of $79,925,982.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Miriam Adelson sold 77,991 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total transaction of $5,269,071.96. Following the sale, the insider owned 23,333,441 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,576,407,273.96. This represents a 0.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,077,991 shares of company stock worth $138,756,613 in the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS opened at $54.73 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $58.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.96. The stock has a market cap of $36.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.58, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.13. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $30.18 and a one year high of $70.45.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The casino operator reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.50% and a return on equity of 91.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is a boost from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.28%.

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.