Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Has $84.96 Million Stock Holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 5.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,579,505 shares of the casino operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 81,414 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $84,962,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,072,014 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,874,063,000 after buying an additional 1,822,806 shares during the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 36.8% in the 2nd quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 10,040,975 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $436,883,000 after acquiring an additional 2,698,398 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 4.9% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,902,619 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $430,863,000 after acquiring an additional 459,821 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,823,966 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $382,294,000 after purchasing an additional 31,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands in the 2nd quarter valued at $134,179,000. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on LVS. Wall Street Zen cut Las Vegas Sands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Mizuho raised 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 report on Thursday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.52.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

LVS stock opened at $65.60 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $55.66. The firm has a market cap of $44.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.97. 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 Corp. has a 12 month low of $30.18 and a 12 month high of $70.45.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 73.14%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. On average, 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 4th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In related news, COO Patrick Dumont sold 210,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $14,712,937.80. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 446,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,244,695.68. This trade represents a 32.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 1,198,650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.68, for a total value of $79,925,982.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 5,182,053 shares of company stock worth $333,348,399. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

About Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) is a global developer and operator of integrated resorts, focused on large-scale properties that combine casino gaming with hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, retail, dining, and entertainment. The company’s operations center on developing and managing full-service resort complexes that serve both leisure and business travelers, with emphasis on convention and trade-show business in addition to gaming revenue streams.

The company’s portfolio has included prominent properties in North America and Asia, most notably The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, along with a significant presence in Macau through multiple integrated resorts.