Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Decreases Holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lowered its holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 0.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 487,363 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 3,593 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. owned about 0.07% of Las Vegas Sands worth $23,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 2.5% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 41,060 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $2,066,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 205,500 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $10,345,000 after acquiring an additional 17,000 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 42.4% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,916 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 7,423 shares during the last quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 5.4% in the third quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 103,041 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $5,187,000 after acquiring an additional 5,321 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the third quarter worth about $1,391,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group lowered shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Argus lowered shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.92.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of LVS traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $53.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,043,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,754,520. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 1-year low of $36.62 and a 1-year high of $55.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.38.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $2.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 44.41%. Las Vegas Sands’s revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is 39.60%.

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.