Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.30

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share by the casino operator on Wednesday, February 18th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 9th. This is a 20.0% increase from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25.

Las Vegas Sands has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Las Vegas Sands has a payout ratio of 35.1% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Las Vegas Sands to earn $2.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.2%.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

LVS traded down $8.73 during trading on Thursday, hitting $52.53. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,732,166 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,705,873. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $64.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.08. Las Vegas Sands has a 12 month low of $30.18 and a 12 month high of $70.45.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The casino operator reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 73.14% and a net margin of 12.69%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Las Vegas Sands news, Director Irwin Chafetz sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $2,092,800.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 70,949 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,949,402.24. This trade represents a 29.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 1,198,650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total transaction of $79,925,982.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,982,053 shares of company stock worth $262,526,399. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LVS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,072,014 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,874,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,822,806 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 2,698,398 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 4.9% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,902,619 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $430,863,000 after purchasing an additional 459,821 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,823,966 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $382,294,000 after buying an additional 31,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 43.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,454,013 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $293,371,000 after buying an additional 1,660,823 shares during the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Las Vegas Sands

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.