9,049 Shares in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Acquired by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV acquired a new position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,049 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LVS. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 159.6% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,130,486 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $459,630,000 after buying an additional 5,612,975 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 32.0% in the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,501,382 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $333,911,000 after buying an additional 1,577,042 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Las Vegas Sands in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $24,370,000. Bamco Inc. NY grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 1,581,075 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $79,591,000 after buying an additional 357,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Calamos Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 128.7% in the 4th quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 387,453 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $19,900,000 after buying an additional 218,008 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LVS. UBS Group increased their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Macquarie upped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $64.50 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total value of $3,191,114.74. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:LVS opened at $45.08 on Tuesday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $36.62 and a one year high of $56.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $46.61 and a 200-day moving average of $47.22. The company has a market capitalization of $32.27 billion, a PE ratio of 22.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.35, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The casino operator reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.04). Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.80% and a return on equity of 45.82%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. This is a positive change from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.76%.

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.