Las Vegas Sands’ (LVS) Equal Weight Rating Reaffirmed at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reissued their equal weight rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) in a report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $51.00 price target on the casino operator’s stock, down from their previous price target of $54.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.92.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS stock opened at $44.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $32.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. Las Vegas Sands has a 52 week low of $36.62 and a 52 week high of $56.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $46.59.

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

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.60%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total value of $1,264,848.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 60,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,129,724. This trade represents a 28.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total transaction of $3,191,114.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 203,732 shares of company stock worth $10,861,707 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the third quarter worth $26,000. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 118.8% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 560 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 849 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vestor Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 3rd quarter valued at about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

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.