Employees Retirement System of Texas Buys 15,352 Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 221,950 shares of the casino operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,352 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $14,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 43.8% in the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,454,013 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $293,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660,823 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 410.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,167,553 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $277,963,000 after purchasing an additional 4,154,753 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 5.3% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,723,494 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $200,335,000 after purchasing an additional 187,389 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 33,102.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,060,288 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $197,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,051,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 64.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,819,128 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $151,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,630 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on LVS. Macquarie Infrastructure restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. Barclays raised their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Mizuho lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.28.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE LVS opened at $49.77 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 12 month low of $40.03 and a 12 month high of $70.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.33 and a 200-day moving average of $58.63. The company has a market capitalization of $32.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.85.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 118.27% and a net margin of 13.41%.The company had revenue of $3.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 5th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.44%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Patrick Dumont sold 60,165 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.75, for a total transaction of $3,294,033.75. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 511,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,028,824.50. This trade represents a 10.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Company Profile

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.