Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Cut to Hold at Argus

Argus downgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on LVS. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $52.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $58.00.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

LVS opened at $40.37 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $41.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.84. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.29. Las Vegas Sands has a 1 year low of $36.62 and a 1 year high of $55.73. The stock has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.12.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The casino operator reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a net margin of 14.08% and a return on equity of 44.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. Analysts forecast that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 6th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 6th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is 38.65%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP raised its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 346.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,692 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $119,000 after purchasing an additional 2,089 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 83,838 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $3,710,000 after buying an additional 2,242 shares during the period. Long Focus Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 1,695.0% during the second quarter. Long Focus Capital Management LLC now owns 359,000 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $15,886,000 after buying an additional 339,000 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 7.1% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 74,587 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $3,300,000 after buying an additional 4,968 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Las Vegas Sands by 987.0% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,549,615 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $245,570,000 after acquiring an additional 5,039,072 shares during the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently 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.