Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Shares Gap Up – What’s Next?

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $49.90, but opened at $51.46. Las Vegas Sands shares last traded at $50.11, with a volume of 388,668 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LVS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Mizuho increased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.25.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 1.0 %

The stock has a market cap of $36.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.79 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 44.26% and a net margin of 13.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 5th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Las Vegas Sands news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total value of $3,191,114.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total transaction of $1,264,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 60,187 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,129,724. The trade was a 28.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 203,732 shares of company stock valued at $10,861,707. Company insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 7.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 715,768 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $31,673,000 after acquiring an additional 48,626 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 243.7% during the 2nd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 14,533 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 10,305 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 23.7% in the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 157,975 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $6,990,000 after buying an additional 30,241 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 23.2% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 101,838 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $4,367,000 after buying an additional 19,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the second quarter worth approximately $527,000. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Las Vegas Sands

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.