Virtu Financial LLC Makes New $682,000 Investment in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 10,486 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $682,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 222.7% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,098,518 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $592,223,000 after purchasing an additional 6,279,390 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 58.4% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,186,257 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $532,843,000 after purchasing an additional 3,018,704 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,893,031 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $513,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,206 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Las Vegas Sands during the 4th quarter worth $364,892,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 43.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 5,454,013 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $293,371,000 after buying an additional 1,660,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE LVS opened at $47.73 on Tuesday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $40.94 and a fifty-two week high of $70.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64. The stock has a market cap of $31.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.81.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 118.27%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 5th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.44%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on LVS. UBS Group dropped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $69.00 to $62.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $61.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.91.

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.