Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS Shares Sold by Securian Asset Management Inc.

Securian Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 2.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,731 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 471 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $771,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 41,249,208 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,593,457,000 after acquiring an additional 2,267,307 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 15,722,816 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $607,373,000 after purchasing an additional 592,321 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 6.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,415,492 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $479,610,000 after purchasing an additional 752,944 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 9.1% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,442,798 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $364,775,000 after purchasing an additional 790,952 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 12.9% during the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 7,342,577 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $283,644,000 after purchasing an additional 841,195 shares during the period. 39.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LVS has been the topic of several research reports. Macquarie increased their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, September 7th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Argus upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.73.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

NYSE:LVS opened at $57.55 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.53. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52 week low of $30.18 and a 52 week high of $58.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $53.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $39.51 billion, a PE ratio of 26.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.01.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.16. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 66.94% 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 period last year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. Las Vegas Sands’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.51%.

Las Vegas Sands 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.