Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS Shares Sold by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 28.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,507 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 9,339 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $1,023,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 2.3% in the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 26,848 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after acquiring an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 12.9% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 63,366 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 7,245 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 61.6% during the 1st quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 129,729 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $5,011,000 after purchasing an additional 49,458 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new stake in Las Vegas Sands during the 1st quarter worth $535,000. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 12.8% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 10,346 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $400,000 after buying an additional 1,172 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 700,000 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total transaction of $41,216,000.00. The transaction 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 company’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 directly owned 13,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $892,637.65. The trade was a 87.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,100,000 shares of company stock valued at $126,218,200 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LVS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Zacks Research raised Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Macquarie lifted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Tuesday. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $66.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.60.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

NYSE LVS opened at $63.45 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $56.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.62. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52 week low of $30.18 and a 52 week high of $67.83. The stock has a market cap of $42.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is 45.25%.

About Las Vegas Sands

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.