Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,920,000 shares, a decrease of 21.9% from the June 30th total of 13,990,000 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 6,120,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on LVS shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LVS. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the fourth quarter worth about $266,538,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,898,186 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $1,815,760,000 after acquiring an additional 4,264,043 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 214.5% in the fourth quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 3,110,574 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $153,071,000 after acquiring an additional 2,121,546 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 58.6% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 5,330,023 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $275,559,000 after acquiring an additional 1,968,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 15.7% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,351,573 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $502,307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,536,754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:LVS traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.18. The company had a trading volume of 6,490,774 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,705,727. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $38.92 and a fifty-two week high of $60.47. The business’s fifty day moving average is $43.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $29.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.93, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.12.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The casino operator reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 43.61%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 6th. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is 38.65%.

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.