Las Vegas Sands Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:LVS)

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders purchased 33,745 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 393% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,846 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 222.7% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,098,518 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $592,223,000 after purchasing an additional 6,279,390 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 4th quarter valued at $364,892,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 410.2% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,167,553 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $277,963,000 after buying an additional 4,154,753 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 33,102.6% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,060,288 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $197,463,000 after buying an additional 3,051,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 157.2% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,864,789 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $154,355,000 after buying an additional 1,750,758 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $74.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays dropped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $63.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings lowered Las Vegas Sands from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $78.50 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $61.88.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 3.6%

NYSE LVS traded up $1.65 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $47.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,018,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,925,640. Las Vegas Sands has a twelve month low of $44.21 and a twelve month high of $70.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.57, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $48.24 and a 200 day moving average of $53.14.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 117.08% and a net margin of 12.59%.Las Vegas Sands’s revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.69%.

Las Vegas Sands Company 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.