Las Vegas Sands Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:LVS)

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 30,405 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 47% compared to the average daily volume of 20,661 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on LVS. Susquehanna raised their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective (down from $54.00) on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.92.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LVS opened at $43.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $31.48 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.64. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $36.62 and a fifty-two week high of $56.60.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company 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%. Las Vegas Sands’s revenue was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Las Vegas Sands news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total value of $1,264,848.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 60,187 shares in the company, valued at $3,129,724. This trade represents a 28.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total value of $3,191,114.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 203,732 shares of company stock worth $10,861,707. 0.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 97.2% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 89,743 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $4,518,000 after acquiring an additional 44,223 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,627,422 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $283,284,000 after purchasing an additional 77,807 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 2nd quarter valued at $619,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 29.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 833,487 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $36,882,000 after purchasing an additional 191,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 548,072 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $27,590,000 after purchasing an additional 136,859 shares during the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.