Metis Global Partners LLC Cuts Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Metis Global Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 12,440 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 1,747 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 12.9% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 175,297 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $6,772,000 after purchasing an additional 20,080 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 1st quarter valued at about $318,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 35.2% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 20,644 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $797,000 after buying an additional 5,373 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 1st quarter worth approximately $970,000. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd raised its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 142.1% during the 1st quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 16,054 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $647,000 after acquiring an additional 54,155 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, EVP D. Zachary Hudson sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total value of $6,499,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 13,735 shares in the company, valued at $892,637.65. This represents a 87.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 700,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total value of $41,216,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 2,100,000 shares of company stock valued at $126,218,200 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Macquarie raised their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 23rd. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Zacks Research raised Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.13.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS stock opened at $66.49 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $55.05 and a 200 day moving average of $49.55. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 1 year low of $30.18 and a 1 year high of $67.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.03.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.04 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 73.14% and a net margin of 12.69%.The company’s revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 4th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.25%.

Las Vegas Sands Company 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.