Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the casino operator on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th.

Las Vegas Sands has decreased its dividend by an average of 20.3% annually over the last three years. Las Vegas Sands has a payout ratio of 24.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Las Vegas Sands to earn $3.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.4%.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

NYSE LVS opened at $46.87 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $50.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $49.62. The firm has a market cap of $34.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 1.29. Las Vegas Sands has a 1 year low of $43.77 and a 1 year high of $63.51.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The casino operator reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.13. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 42.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on LVS. StockNews.com upgraded Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 100,000 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.06, for a total value of $5,206,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,801 shares in the company, valued at $8,996,020.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.