Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Receives $59.42 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $59.42.

LVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $61.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd.

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 LVS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 583 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

LVS opened at $43.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.64 and a 200 day moving average of $47.65. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $36.62 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.35, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The casino operator reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.04). Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.80% and a return on equity of 45.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This is a positive change from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.76%.

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.