Bank of Montreal Can Decreases Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Bank of Montreal Can cut its holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 60.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 165,170 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 255,076 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $7,187,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LVS. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 5.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,249,208 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,593,457,000 after buying an additional 2,267,307 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,722,816 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $607,373,000 after acquiring an additional 592,321 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 36.8% in the 2nd 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 period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 9.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,442,798 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $364,775,000 after purchasing an additional 790,952 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the first quarter valued at approximately $183,836,000. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 3.7%

LVS stock opened at $65.13 on Monday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $30.18 and a fifty-two week high of $65.55. The company has a market capitalization of $44.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $54.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 0.89.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 73.14% and a net margin of 12.69%.The firm’s revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 4th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.25%.

Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 700,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total transaction of $41,216,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,000,000 shares of company stock worth $119,719,200. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on LVS. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $52.50 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $64.13.

Las Vegas Sands Profile

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.