iSAM Funds UK Ltd Buys Shares of 21,686 Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 21,686 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $944,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $183,836,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the second quarter worth $134,179,000. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 36.8% during the second quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 10,040,975 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $436,883,000 after acquiring an additional 2,698,398 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4.4% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,072,014 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,874,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 4,226.7% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,012,800 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $44,067,000 after purchasing an additional 989,392 shares during the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 7th. Seaport Global Securities boosted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.80.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of LVS stock opened at $66.42 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $59.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.18. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a twelve month low of $30.18 and a twelve month high of $70.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $44.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.97.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.16. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 73.14% and a net margin of 12.69%.The firm had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.25%.

Insider Activity

In other Las Vegas Sands news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 700,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total transaction of $41,216,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Patrick Dumont sold 210,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total transaction of $14,712,937.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 446,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,244,695.68. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,704,062 shares of company stock worth $168,024,845. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.