Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 90,690 Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 2.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,780,266 shares of the casino operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 90,690 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $203,616,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 222.7% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 9,098,518 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $592,223,000 after buying an additional 6,279,390 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the fourth quarter valued at about $364,892,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,154,753 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $197,463,000 after acquiring an additional 3,051,071 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 7,893,031 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $513,757,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,206 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on LVS. Barclays lowered their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $63.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $62.00 price objective (down from $73.00) on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Thursday. Seaport Research Partners lowered their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $72.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.31.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE LVS opened at $46.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.64, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $30.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.83. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $44.21 and a one year high of $70.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $48.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $53.22.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The casino operator reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.31 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 117.08% and a net margin of 12.59%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 4th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 4th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is 46.69%.

Key Stories Impacting Las Vegas Sands

Here are the key news stories impacting Las Vegas Sands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are still looking beyond near-term weakness because Las Vegas Sands is investing heavily in premium travel demand, including Macau property upgrades and an $8 billion Singapore expansion that could support future growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Despite the selloff after earnings, some market coverage says LVS is gaining as investors focus on the company’s long-term assets and ignore temporary headwinds. Article Title

Las Vegas Sands Profile

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.