Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Grows Position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 48.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 54,540 shares of the casino operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,781 shares during the quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $3,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LVS. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 410.2% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,167,553 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $277,963,000 after purchasing an additional 4,154,753 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 33,102.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 3,060,288 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $197,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,051,071 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 43.8% in the third quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,454,013 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $293,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660,823 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 64.5% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,819,128 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $151,641,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,630 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 4,504.2% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,028,808 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $55,340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,463 shares during the period. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Patrick Dumont sold 60,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.75, for a total transaction of $3,294,033.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 511,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,028,824.50. The trade was a 10.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

LVS opened at $51.18 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 52-week low of $39.29 and a 52-week high of $70.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $53.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.14. The company has a market cap of $33.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.85.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.15. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 118.27%. The business had revenue of $3.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LVS has been the subject of several research reports. Seaport Research Partners decreased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $73.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.28.

About Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) is a global developer and operator of integrated resorts, focused on large-scale properties that combine casino gaming with hotels, convention and exhibition facilities, retail, dining, and entertainment. The company’s operations center on developing and managing full-service resort complexes that serve both leisure and business travelers, with emphasis on convention and trade-show business in addition to gaming revenue streams.

The company’s portfolio has included prominent properties in North America and Asia, most notably The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, along with a significant presence in Macau through multiple integrated resorts.