M&T Bank Corp Grows Holdings in Las Vegas Sands Corp. $LVS

M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 33,102.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,060,288 shares of the casino operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,051,071 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $197,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $293,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660,823 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 410.2% during the 3rd 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. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,723,494 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $200,335,000 after acquiring an additional 187,389 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 64.5% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,819,128 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $151,641,000 after acquiring an additional 1,105,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,822,120 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $98,012,000 after acquiring an additional 16,674 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LVS has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho upped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $76.75 to $78.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered Las Vegas Sands from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed a “mixed” rating on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Eleven investment 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.84.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Patrick Dumont sold 60,165 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.75, for a total transaction of $3,294,033.75. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 511,942 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $28,028,824.50. The trade was a 10.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:LVS opened at $57.56 on Wednesday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $70.45. The stock has a market cap of $38.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.89. The business has a fifty day moving average of $55.15 and a 200-day moving average of $58.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.58, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The casino operator reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $3.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.33 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 91.40% and a net margin of 12.50%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Investors of record on Monday, February 9th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 9th. This is a positive change from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.28%.

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.