New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Sells 58,413 Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Key Points

• New Age Alpha Advisors LLC significantly reduced its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. by 95.1%, now holding only 3,015 shares valued at $116,000 after selling 58,413 shares in the first quarter.
• Las Vegas Sands reported earnings per share of $0.79 for the last quarter, surpassing estimates and showing a 15.0% increase in revenue year-over-year, totaling $3.18 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, representing an annualized yield of 1.9%, with a dividend payout ratio of 50.51%.

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC cut its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Free Report) by 95.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,015 shares of the casino operator's stock after selling 58,413 shares during the quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC's holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LVS. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,824,289 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $3,021,205,000 after purchasing an additional 12,304,533 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position 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 buying an additional 5,088,095 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 12.9% during the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 7,342,577 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $283,644,000 after buying an additional 841,195 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 42.7% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,652,458 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $136,218,000 after buying an additional 793,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 6.5% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,415,492 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $479,610,000 after buying an additional 752,944 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on LVS shares. UBS Group boosted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $52.50 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Monday, July 7th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $58.33.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE LVS traded up $0.47 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $54.36. The company had a trading volume of 4,584,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,717,186. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $30.18 and a one year high of $56.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.53. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $47.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.72. The stock has a market cap of $37.32 billion, a PE ratio of 27.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.08.

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

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 paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. Las Vegas Sands's payout ratio is 50.51%.

Las Vegas Sands declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 23rd that allows the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the casino operator to reacquire up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is 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.