Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS Shares Bought by M&T Bank Corp

Key Points

• M&T Bank Corp dramatically increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 33,102.6% in Q4, buying 3,051,071 shares to hold 3,060,288 shares (about 0.45% of the company, valued at ~$197.5M).
• Q4 results beat expectations: Las Vegas Sands reported $0.85 EPS vs. $0.77 est. and revenue of $3.65B vs. $3.33B, with revenue up ~26% year-over-year.
• Dividend increased to $0.30 quarterly (from $0.25), equal to a $1.20 annualized payout and a ~2.1% yield, with a payout ratio of ~51.3%.

M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Free Report) by 33,102.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,060,288 shares of the casino operator's stock after buying an additional 3,051,071 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp owned 0.45% of Las Vegas Sands worth $197,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Grove Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 48.0% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 512 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 549.5% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 630 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 533 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 182.4% during the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 672 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on LVS. Argus dropped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Barclays set a $64.00 price target on Las Vegas Sands in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $75.00 to $72.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Wall Street Zen cut Las Vegas Sands from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Monday, December 29th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $67.84.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $57.56 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $55.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.20 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.58, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.14. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $70.45.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The casino operator reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $3.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.33 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 91.40% and a net margin of 12.50%.Las Vegas Sands's revenue for the quarter was up 26.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 9th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This is an increase from Las Vegas Sands's previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 9th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Las Vegas Sands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.28%.

Insider Activity at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Patrick Dumont sold 60,165 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.75, for a total transaction of $3,294,033.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 511,942 shares in the company, valued at approximately $28,028,824.50. This represents a 10.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

Las Vegas Sands Profile

Las Vegas Sands NYSE: LVS is a global developer and operator of integrated resorts, focused on large-scale properties that combine casino gaming with hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, retail, dining, and entertainment. The company's operations center on developing and managing full-service resort complexes that serve both leisure and business travelers, with emphasis on convention and trade-show business in addition to gaming revenue streams.

The company's portfolio has included prominent properties in North America and Asia, most notably The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, along with a significant presence in Macau through multiple integrated resorts.

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