OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd Acquires New Shares in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 159,501 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $9,251,000. Las Vegas Sands comprises approximately 10.7% of OPTIMAS CAPITAL Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Las Vegas Sands by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 35,537,902 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,381,358,000 after purchasing an additional 519,620 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 23,298,767 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,338,514,000 after buying an additional 330,221 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 2.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,898,679 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $540,242,000 after buying an additional 394,616 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 9,567,353 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $554,906,000 after buying an additional 325,348 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 8,391,096 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $482,068,000 after buying an additional 666,588 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on LVS. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 13th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $69.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.68.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE LVS traded up $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.38. The stock had a trading volume of 334,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,539,192. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 12 month low of $41.72 and a 12 month high of $65.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.82, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.50. The company has a market capitalization of $37.75 billion, a PE ratio of 56.00, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $47.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.59.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The casino operator reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.55. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 21.05%. The firm had revenue of $2.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.27) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 178.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 7th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 6th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.91%.

Las Vegas Sands declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, October 18th that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the casino operator to purchase up to 5.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.