Investors Buy High Volume of Las Vegas Sands Call Options (NYSE:LVS)

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 36,939 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 486% compared to the typical daily volume of 6,306 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LVS. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $78.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Seaport Research Partners dropped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $69.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.69.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 13.9% during the second quarter. Pension & Wealth Management Advisors Inc. now owns 2,012 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $93,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 0.4% during the first quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 92,093 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $4,921,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 73.4% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 886 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 1.0% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 40,491 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $2,132,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 7.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,988 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 403 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of Las Vegas Sands stock traded up $0.88 on Tuesday, hitting $37.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,073,452 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,039,866. The company has a market capitalization of $23.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.78. Las Vegas Sands has a 1 year low of $35.28 and a 1 year high of $70.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.27, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.62.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.17). Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 133.90% and a net margin of 12.59%. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands will post 3.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 4th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.69%.

About Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is a global developer and operator of integrated resorts that combine casino gaming with hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, retail, dining and entertainment venues. The company’s properties are designed to serve leisure travelers, business visitors and convention groups.

Las Vegas Sands operates major integrated resorts in Macau, including The Venetian Macao, The Parisian Macao, The Londoner Macao and Four Seasons Hotel Macao. In Singapore, it operates Marina Bay Sands, a large resort featuring hotel accommodations, gaming, shopping, dining, entertainment and convention facilities.