Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Has $1.09 Million Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Free Report) by 54.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,172 shares of the casino operator's stock after buying an additional 9,952 shares during the period. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.'s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $1,088,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 63.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 885 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 7,685 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 1,855 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 30.5% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,275 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 9,348 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 645 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 16,054 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 955 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on LVS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Macquarie reduced their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Las Vegas Sands in a report on Monday. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $52.00 target price for the company. Finally, Mizuho set a $47.00 target price on Las Vegas Sands in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $55.15.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of LVS stock traded up $0.76 on Tuesday, hitting $49.10. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,013,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,871,183. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.58, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $30.18 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $41.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.03.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 11.64% and a return on equity of 44.91%. The business had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 6th. Las Vegas Sands's payout ratio is presently 55.56%.

Las Vegas Sands declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 23rd that permits the company to buyback $2.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the casino operator to buy up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Las Vegas Sands

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.