Westpac Banking Corp Acquires Shares of 65,994 Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Westpac Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 65,994 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $3,048,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 8.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 31,251 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,207,000 after acquiring an additional 2,418 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 38.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 29,032 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 8,132 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 91.8% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,146 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 1,027 shares in the last quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC acquired a new stake in Las Vegas Sands in the second quarter valued at about $414,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 70.0% in the second quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,595 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $766,000 after purchasing an additional 7,243 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LVS. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $74.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $62.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research downgraded Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright cut shares of Las Vegas Sands to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.88.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

LVS stock opened at $47.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $46.69 and a 200-day moving average of $51.40. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 12-month low of $44.21 and a 12-month high of $70.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.27. The company has a market cap of $30.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.85.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $3.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.31 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 133.90% and a net margin of 12.59%.Las Vegas Sands’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 4th. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is presently 46.69%.

Las Vegas Sands 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.