Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS Position Cut by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. trimmed its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVSFree Report) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 599,034 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 110,531 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $38,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake 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. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 410.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 4,154,753 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 5.3% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,723,494 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $200,335,000 after purchasing an additional 187,389 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 64.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,105,630 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 0.9% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,822,120 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $98,012,000 after purchasing an additional 16,674 shares during the period. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Las Vegas Sands News

Here are the key news stories impacting Las Vegas Sands this week:

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LVS. Mizuho raised their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Zacks Research lowered Las Vegas Sands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. HSBC raised their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $67.50 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $61.00 price target (down from $72.00) on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners lowered their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.84.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Las Vegas Sands

Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands

In related news, CEO Patrick Dumont sold 60,165 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.75, for a total transaction of $3,294,033.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 511,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,028,824.50. The trade was a 10.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

NYSE:LVS opened at $56.67 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $55.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.83. The firm has a market cap of $37.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.22, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.89. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52-week low of $32.13 and a 52-week high of $70.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.58.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVSGet Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The casino operator reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 91.40% and a net margin of 12.50%.Las Vegas Sands’s revenue was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This is an increase from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.28%.

Las Vegas Sands Profile

(Free Report)

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.

Featured Articles

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LVS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVSFree Report).

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS)

Receive News & Ratings for Las Vegas Sands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Las Vegas Sands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.