SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 74.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,529,236 shares of the casino operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 651,214 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned about 0.23% of Las Vegas Sands worth $82,395,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 67,446 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $4,390,000 after purchasing an additional 19,488 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 411.5% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 44,208 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $2,877,000 after buying an additional 35,566 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,051,000. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 116.2% during the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 148,196 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $9,646,000 after acquiring an additional 79,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 99.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 934,927 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $60,901,000 after acquiring an additional 466,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $76.75 to $78.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $69.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Las Vegas Sands from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.91.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $47.73 on Tuesday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a twelve month low of $40.94 and a twelve month high of $70.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64. The company’s 50 day moving average is $52.00 and its 200 day moving average is $56.51. The company has a market cap of $31.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.81.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 118.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 25.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Las Vegas Sands Profile

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) is a global developer and operator of integrated resorts, focused on large-scale properties that combine casino gaming with hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, retail, dining, and entertainment. The company’s operations center on developing and managing full-service resort complexes that serve both leisure and business travelers, with emphasis on convention and trade-show business in addition to gaming revenue streams.

The company’s portfolio has included prominent properties in North America and Asia, most notably The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, along with a significant presence in Macau through multiple integrated resorts.