Las Vegas Sands Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:LVS)

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 98,366 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 540% compared to the average daily volume of 15,371 call options.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 0.1%

Las Vegas Sands stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $52.46. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,654,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,867,394. Las Vegas Sands has a 52-week low of $30.18 and a 52-week high of $56.60. The firm's 50 day moving average is $44.48 and its 200 day moving average is $42.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.58, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market cap of $37.07 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.03.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.26. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 51.16% and a net margin of 12.16%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 5th. Las Vegas Sands's dividend payout ratio is 50.51%.

Las Vegas Sands declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the casino operator to buy up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,824,289 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $3,021,205,000 after buying an additional 12,304,533 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,249,208 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $1,593,457,000 after acquiring an additional 2,267,307 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,722,816 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $607,373,000 after acquiring an additional 592,321 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 55.7% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,218,581 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $730,295,000 after acquiring an additional 5,088,095 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on LVS. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Las Vegas Sands to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $58.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Mizuho upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.67.

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.