Everett Harris & Co. CA Acquires New Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Key Points

• Everett Harris & Co. CA recently acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands Corp., purchasing 17,018 shares valued at approximately $657,000.
• Several hedge funds have increased their holdings in Las Vegas Sands, with Capital Research Global Investors growing its position by 26.5% to own over $3 billion worth of shares.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, resulting in a 1.9% dividend yield, and also implemented a buyback program authorizing up to $2 billion for share repurchases.

Everett Harris & Co. CA acquired a new stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 17,018 shares of the casino operator's stock, valued at approximately $657,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LVS. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,824,289 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $3,021,205,000 after acquiring an additional 12,304,533 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 55.7% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,218,581 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $730,295,000 after acquiring an additional 5,088,095 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,249,208 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $1,593,457,000 after acquiring an additional 2,267,307 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 12.9% during the 1st quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 7,342,577 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $283,644,000 after purchasing an additional 841,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 42.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,652,458 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $136,218,000 after purchasing an additional 793,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company's stock.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of LVS traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $53.83. The company had a trading volume of 5,300,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,724,250. The stock has a market cap of $36.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.64. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $30.18 and a fifty-two week high of $56.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.53.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.16% and a return on equity of 55.37%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the casino operator to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Las Vegas Sands's payout ratio is presently 50.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Macquarie raised their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Monday, July 7th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $58.33.

Las Vegas Sands 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.