Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.20

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of 0.20 per share by the casino operator on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th.

Las Vegas Sands has decreased its dividend by an average of 20.3% per year over the last three years. Las Vegas Sands has a dividend payout ratio of 24.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Las Vegas Sands to earn $3.03 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.4%.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $46.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $34.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.64, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a 50-day moving average of $50.34 and a 200-day moving average of $49.62. Las Vegas Sands has a 1 year low of $43.77 and a 1 year high of $63.51.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The casino operator reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.13. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 42.34%. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 34.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 100,000 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.06, for a total transaction of $5,206,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 172,801 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,996,020.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.91% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on LVS. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Barclays cut their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.46.

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.