Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Acquires New Stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 950 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $41,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in LVS. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 37.5% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 876 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Hilltop National Bank bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the 2nd quarter valued at $44,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 53.8% during the second quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,361 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 21.4% during the second quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,401 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares during the period. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Las Vegas Sands

In related news, EVP D. Zachary Hudson sold 100,000 shares of Las Vegas Sands 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 13,735 shares in the company, valued at $892,637.65. The trade was a 87.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 700,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.88, for a total transaction of $41,216,000.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,100,000 shares of company stock worth $126,218,200. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on LVS. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective 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. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $52.50 to $58.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.60.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

NYSE:LVS opened at $64.05 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $43.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.98, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.03. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 1 year low of $30.18 and a 1 year high of $67.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.42, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 1.21.

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

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 4th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 4th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.