Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS Shares Sold by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 91.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 237,351 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 2,589,890 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $12,767,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 4.4% during the 2nd 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4.9% during 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 0.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,823,966 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $382,294,000 after purchasing an additional 31,153 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the second quarter valued at about $134,179,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 116.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,713,498 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $74,272,000 after purchasing an additional 922,738 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LVS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $66.00 target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Barclays set a $64.00 price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.55.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS opened at $54.73 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.58, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $58.06 and its 200-day moving average is $58.96. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 12-month low of $30.18 and a 12-month high of $70.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.88.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The casino operator reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.50% and a return on equity of 91.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is 51.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 1,198,650 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total value of $79,925,982.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Miriam Adelson sold 77,991 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.56, for a total value of $5,269,071.96. Following the sale, the insider owned 23,333,441 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,576,407,273.96. The trade was a 0.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,077,991 shares of company stock worth $138,756,613 over the last ninety days. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.