Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) from a strong sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Monday morning,Zacks reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Friday, August 21st. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $61.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $74.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.84.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of LVS stock opened at $35.81 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.00. The company has a market cap of $23.20 billion, a PE ratio of 13.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.78. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $35.69 and a fifty-two week high of $70.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.27, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly 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). Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 133.90% and a net margin of 12.59%.The business had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.31 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Las Vegas Sands’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 4th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.69%.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 15,159,570 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $700,221,000 after buying an additional 919,452 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,186,257 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $532,843,000 after acquiring an additional 3,018,704 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 4,617,148 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $213,266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,244,943 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,780,266 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $203,616,000 after acquiring an additional 90,690 shares during the period. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 3,748,681 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $201,979,000 after acquiring an additional 343,203 shares during the period. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Las Vegas Sands Company Profile

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is a global developer and operator of integrated resorts that combine casino gaming with hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, retail, dining and entertainment venues. The company’s properties are designed to serve leisure travelers, business visitors and convention groups.

Las Vegas Sands operates major integrated resorts in Macau, including The Venetian Macao, The Parisian Macao, The Londoner Macao and Four Seasons Hotel Macao. In Singapore, it operates Marina Bay Sands, a large resort featuring hotel accommodations, gaming, shopping, dining, entertainment and convention facilities.