Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Acquires Shares of 425,594 Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 425,594 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $18,833,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LVS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 37,107,775 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,918,472,000 after purchasing an additional 209,589 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 1.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 32,170,552 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,663,219,000 after buying an additional 531,799 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 15.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,351,573 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $502,307,000 after buying an additional 1,536,754 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,263,604 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $554,282,000 after buying an additional 669,052 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 0.8% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,500,248 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $376,136,000 after buying an additional 68,568 shares during the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 8.0 %

Shares of Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $48.39 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.43. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 12-month low of $36.62 and a 12-month high of $55.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. The stock has a market cap of $35.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.11.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The casino operator reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 44.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.65%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 38.65%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LVS. StockNews.com cut Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. UBS Group downgraded Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $49.00 in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Macquarie dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $51.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.25.

Las Vegas Sands Company Profile

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.