Las Vegas Sands’ (LVS) Equal Weight Rating Reaffirmed at Morgan Stanley

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reissued by analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $51.00 target price on the casino operator’s stock, down from their previous target price of $54.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 8.83% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on LVS. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Mizuho raised their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $69.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.92.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

LVS stock opened at $46.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $51.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.59. The firm has a market cap of $33.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. Las Vegas Sands has a 1 year low of $36.62 and a 1 year high of $56.60.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.29% and a return on equity of 44.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total transaction of $3,191,114.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 119,221 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.73, for a total transaction of $6,405,744.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 84,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,540,776.03. This trade represents a 58.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 203,732 shares of company stock valued at $10,861,707 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 3.6% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,050 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,062 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 849 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,510 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $177,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,466 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Company 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.