Woodline Partners LP Buys Shares of 20,900 Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 20,900 shares of the casino operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,073,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bank of Jackson Hole Trust acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 583 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 45.6% in the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 760 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Mizuho set a $47.00 target price on Las Vegas Sands in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Macquarie dropped 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. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Las Vegas Sands to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $56.75.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.11. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,920,537 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,166,379. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.89. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 1-year low of $30.18 and a 1-year high of $56.61. The stock has a market cap of $29.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.87, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.35.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 45.82% and a net margin of 12.80%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. Las Vegas Sands's dividend payout ratio is presently 55.56%.

Las Vegas Sands announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the casino operator to repurchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership 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.