The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 5,039,072 Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 987.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,549,615 shares of the casino operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,039,072 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned 0.74% of Las Vegas Sands worth $245,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 0.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 1.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 531,799 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 15.7% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,536,754 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 11,263,604 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $554,282,000 after acquiring an additional 669,052 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 8,500,248 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $376,136,000 after purchasing an additional 68,568 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LVS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $51.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $70.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.25.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LVS opened at $48.39 on Friday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $36.62 and a fifty-two week high of $55.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.46. The company has a market capitalization of $35.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58.

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

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

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

Las Vegas Sands 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.