Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Grows Stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH raised its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,574,544 shares of the casino operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,267 shares during the period. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $84,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 222.7% in the 4th 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 bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the fourth quarter worth approximately $364,892,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 410.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,167,553 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $277,963,000 after buying an additional 4,154,753 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 33,102.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 43.8% during the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,454,013 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $293,371,000 after buying an additional 1,660,823 shares during the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on LVS shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.91.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

LVS stock opened at $47.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 1 year low of $43.20 and a 1 year high of $70.45. The company has a market cap of $31.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.81. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $51.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.04.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 13.41%.The company had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.59 earnings per share. Las Vegas Sands’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

About Las Vegas Sands

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.