Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS Position Trimmed by Ceredex Value Advisors LLC

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 29.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 426,350 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 179,000 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $22,933,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of LVS. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 8.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,251 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,418 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 38.9% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 29,032 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,122,000 after acquiring an additional 8,132 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4.7% during the second quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 118,077 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $5,149,000 after purchasing an additional 5,293 shares during the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the second quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $485,000. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 1,198,650 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total transaction of $79,925,982.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Miriam Adelson sold 77,991 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 23,333,441 shares in the company, valued at $1,576,407,273.96. This represents a 0.33% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,477,991 shares of company stock worth $165,323,554. 1.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 0.5%

Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $53.84 on Tuesday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52 week low of $30.18 and a 52 week high of $70.45. The stock has a market cap of $36.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $58.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.58.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.50% and a return on equity of 91.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. 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. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is 51.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LVS. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $80.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $78.00 to $72.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.55.

Las Vegas Sands Company 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.