Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Las Vegas Sands Corp. has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from sixteen research firms, with a 1-year target price of $58.33.
• The company reported earnings of $0.79 per share for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, and revenue of $3.18 billion, a 15% increase year-over-year.
• Las Vegas Sands announced a $2 billion stock buyback program and a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share, highlighting confidence in its valuation.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $58.3333.

LVS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Argus raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LVS. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands in the 4th quarter valued at about $486,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 155,217 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $7,972,000 after buying an additional 32,168 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 47,153 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $2,422,000 after buying an additional 997 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 4th quarter worth about $760,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 4th quarter worth about $218,000. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

NYSE LVS traded up $0.81 during trading on Monday, reaching $53.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,300,494 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,724,250. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.53, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $36.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.08. Las Vegas Sands has a twelve month low of $30.18 and a twelve month high of $56.60. The business's fifty day moving average price is $47.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.64.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.16% and a return on equity of 55.37%. Las Vegas Sands's quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 5th. Las Vegas Sands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.51%.

Las Vegas Sands announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, April 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the casino operator to purchase up to 8.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is 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.