Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Earns “Equal Weight” Rating from Morgan Stanley

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $51.00 price objective on the casino operator’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $54.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential upside of 15.31% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho raised their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Las Vegas Sands has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.92.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

LVS stock opened at $44.23 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $32.07 billion, a PE ratio of 21.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $51.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.59. Las Vegas Sands has a one year low of $36.62 and a one year high of $56.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.29% and a return on equity of 44.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Las Vegas Sands

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total transaction of $1,264,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 60,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,129,724. The trade was a 28.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total transaction of $3,191,114.74. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 203,732 shares of company stock worth $10,861,707 in the last quarter. 0.91% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Las Vegas Sands during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 118.8% during the 3rd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 560 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the third quarter valued at $34,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the third quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 40.1% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 849 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

About Las Vegas Sands

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.