Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) to Buy

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) was upgraded by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $69.00 price target on the casino operator’s stock, up from their previous price target of $60.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 36.85% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on LVS. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.25.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 1.0 %

Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $50.42 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. Las Vegas Sands has a 52 week low of $36.62 and a 52 week high of $56.60.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.09). Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 44.26% and a net margin of 13.29%. The business had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In other Las Vegas Sands news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 119,221 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.73, for a total transaction of $6,405,744.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,511 shares in the company, valued at $4,540,776.03. This represents a 58.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total value of $3,191,114.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 203,732 shares of company stock valued at $10,861,707 in the last ninety days. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 206.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,605 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,756 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 548,072 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $27,590,000 after acquiring an additional 136,859 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 115,803 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $6,053,000 after acquiring an additional 11,261 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the third quarter valued at about $1,953,000. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.