State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Purchases 3,970 Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 1.1% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 359,628 shares of the casino operator’s stock after buying an additional 3,970 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $15,647,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LVS. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 10,346 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 1,172 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 37.1% in the first quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,398 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $286,000 after acquiring an additional 2,002 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 6.0% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 53,524 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $2,068,000 after purchasing an additional 3,015 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 797.5% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 13,400 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 11,907 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the 1st quarter worth about $186,000. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LVS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.60.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LVS opened at $68.16 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $57.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.84, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.03. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $30.18 and a one year high of $68.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.16. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 73.14%. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In other Las Vegas Sands news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 700,000 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total transaction of $41,216,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP D. Zachary Hudson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total transaction of $6,499,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 13,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $892,637.65. This trade represents a 87.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,157,545 shares of company stock worth $130,042,065 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

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.