Cim Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Cim Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 99.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 26,452 shares of the casino operator’s stock after buying an additional 13,203 shares during the quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $1,255,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 2nd quarter valued at about $134,179,000. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 36.8% in the second quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 10,040,975 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $436,883,000 after buying an additional 2,698,398 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 4.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,072,014 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,874,063,000 after buying an additional 1,822,806 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4,226.7% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,012,800 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $44,067,000 after acquiring an additional 989,392 shares during the period. Finally, Carrhae Capital LLP purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the second quarter worth approximately $41,849,000. 39.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Patrick Dumont sold 210,305 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $14,712,937.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 446,608 shares in the company, valued at $31,244,695.68. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP D. Zachary Hudson sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 13,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $892,637.65. This trade represents a 87.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 3,104,062 shares of company stock worth $194,591,786. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $65.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $44.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.97. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52-week low of $30.18 and a 52-week high of $70.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42.

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

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LVS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $56.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Macquarie increased their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.45.

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.