Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Upgraded to “Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Friday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $69.00 price target on the casino operator’s stock, up from their previous price target of $60.00.

LVS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.25.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $50.42 on Friday. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $36.62 and a fifty-two week high of $56.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $51.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $46.34. The firm has a market cap of $36.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.10.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $2.68 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 5th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is 39.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total transaction of $1,264,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 60,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,129,724. This represents a 28.78 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 203,732 shares of company stock worth $10,861,707 over the last 90 days. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the second quarter worth $54,000. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands during the 2nd quarter valued at about $376,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 7.3% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 715,768 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $31,673,000 after acquiring an additional 48,626 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 243.7% during the second quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 14,533 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $643,000 after purchasing an additional 10,305 shares during the period. Finally, Stablepoint Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 17,034 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $754,000 after acquiring an additional 2,991 shares during the period. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.