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

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "equal weight" rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $51.00 target price on the casino operator's stock, down from their previous target price of $54.00. Morgan Stanley's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.41% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Mizuho lifted their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Las Vegas Sands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $69.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.92.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Shares of LVS traded down $1.90 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $44.97. The stock had a trading volume of 6,815,988 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,193,458. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $51.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.60 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.09. Las Vegas Sands has a 12 month low of $36.62 and a 12 month high of $56.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.09). The business 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 business's quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 119,221 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.73, for a total value of $6,405,744.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 84,511 shares in the company, valued at $4,540,776.03. This trade represents a 58.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were 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 have sold a total of 203,732 shares of company stock valued at $10,861,707 in the last quarter. 0.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,050 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $305,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 4.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,062 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 40.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 849 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 7.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,510 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 12,466 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $628,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. 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.