Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Upgraded to "Strong-Buy" at Hsbc Global Res

Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Free Report) to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $57.00 price objective on Las Vegas Sands and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Las Vegas Sands from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $69.00 in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $64.50 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Macquarie cut their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $56.75.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

Las Vegas Sands stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $36.01. The company had a trading volume of 5,844,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,061,917. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.70. The company has a market cap of $25.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.35. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $30.18 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.80% and a return on equity of 45.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. The company's revenue was down 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, April 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the casino operator to purchase up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 6th. Las Vegas Sands's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LVS. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,953,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Las Vegas Sands in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 115,803 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $6,053,000 after buying an additional 11,261 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 33.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 548,072 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $27,590,000 after buying an additional 136,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Las Vegas Sands by 206.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,605 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $134,000 after buying an additional 1,756 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.