Norges Bank Takes $364.89 Million Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,605,957 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $364,892,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LVS. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 410.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,167,553 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $277,963,000 after buying an additional 4,154,753 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 33,102.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,060,288 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $197,463,000 after buying an additional 3,051,071 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 43.8% in the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,454,013 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $293,371,000 after buying an additional 1,660,823 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 64.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,819,128 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $151,641,000 after buying an additional 1,105,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 4,504.2% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,028,808 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $55,340,000 after buying an additional 1,006,463 shares during the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on LVS shares. Barclays increased their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $77.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Citigroup increased their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $76.75 to $78.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.28.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LVS opened at $53.24 on Tuesday. 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 has a market cap of $35.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.72, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.81. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52 week low of $40.03 and a 52 week high of $70.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $53.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.24.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $3.59 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.59 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Patrick Dumont sold 60,165 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.75, for a total transaction of $3,294,033.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 511,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,028,824.50. This trade represents a 10.52% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.