US Bancorp DE Raises Holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Key Points

• US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. by 19%, owning a total of 132,690 shares worth about $5.77 million by the end of the second quarter.
• Analyst ratings have improved for Las Vegas Sands, with Wall Street Zen upgrading the stock from a "hold" to a "buy" and Morgan Stanley raising its price target from $50 to $57.
• Las Vegas Sands recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, equating to an annualized yield of 2.0%.

US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Free Report) by 19.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,690 shares of the casino operator's stock after buying an additional 21,207 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE's holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $5,773,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of LVS. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $183,836,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $1,593,457,000 after buying an additional 2,267,307 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP raised 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 buying an additional 841,195 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 9.1% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,442,798 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $364,775,000 after buying an additional 790,952 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 6.5% during the 1st 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LVS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Las Vegas Sands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 28th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $60.20.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LVS opened at $49.55 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $53.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.85. The stock has a market cap of $34.01 billion, a PE ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.53, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.22. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $30.18 and a one year high of $58.05.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.83 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 55.37% and a net margin of 12.16%.Las Vegas Sands's quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 5th. Las Vegas Sands's dividend payout ratio is 50.51%.

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.

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