HighTower Advisors LLC Buys 183,203 Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. by 47.5% in the first quarter, owning 568,557 shares worth approximately $21.96 million.
• Las Vegas Sands reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.79, exceeding estimates and marking a year-over-year revenue increase of 15% to $3.18 billion.
• The company has instituted a share repurchase program permitting the buyback of up to $2 billion of its outstanding shares, which is often indicative of management's belief that the stock is undervalued.

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Free Report) by 47.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 568,557 shares of the casino operator's stock after buying an additional 183,203 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.08% of Las Vegas Sands worth $21,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,824,289 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $3,021,205,000 after acquiring an additional 12,304,533 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 55.7% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,218,581 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $730,295,000 after purchasing an additional 5,088,095 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands during the first quarter worth $183,836,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 5.8% in the first 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 last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 12.9% in the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 7,342,577 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $283,644,000 after acquiring an additional 841,195 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LVS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.33.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Down 0.3%

LVS stock traded down $0.1730 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $53.4470. 3,451,881 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,837,640. The company has a market cap of $36.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.08. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $49.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.53. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52 week low of $30.18 and a 52 week high of $56.60.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.26. The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during 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%. Las Vegas Sands'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. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 5th. Las Vegas Sands's payout ratio is 50.51%.

Las Vegas Sands announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the casino operator to repurchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.