Long Focus Capital Management LLC Sells 46,000 Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Long Focus Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS - Free Report) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 268,000 shares of the casino operator's stock after selling 46,000 shares during the quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC's holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $13,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LVS. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,824,289 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $3,021,205,000 after buying an additional 12,304,533 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 13,810,351 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $709,300,000 after purchasing an additional 160,711 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,662,548 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $598,988,000 after purchasing an additional 1,389,963 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 9,382,267 shares of the casino operator's stock valued at $481,873,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,637,600 shares of the casino operator's stock worth $443,086,000 after purchasing an additional 80,709 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Macquarie reduced their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Mizuho set a $47.00 price objective on Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $57.00 price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Four 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.com, Las Vegas Sands has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $56.75.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of LVS stock traded down $0.74 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $35.87. 6,977,424 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,058,272. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.35, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $39.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.90. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a one year low of $30.18 and a one year high of $56.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.99.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $2.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 12.80% and a return on equity of 45.82%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 6th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 6th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. Las Vegas Sands's dividend payout ratio is currently 55.56%.

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

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.