WINTON GROUP Ltd Cuts Stake in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

WINTON GROUP Ltd reduced its position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 71.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,033 shares of the casino operator’s stock after selling 34,925 shares during the quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 1.2% in the 4th 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 period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake 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 worth $598,988,000 after buying an additional 1,389,963 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 159.6% during the third 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 during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 6,501,382 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $333,911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,577,042 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,659,427 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $133,876,000 after acquiring an additional 57,739 shares during the period. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Macquarie upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $64.50 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Las Vegas Sands from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.42.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Down 5.4 %

Shares of LVS stock opened at $38.15 on Friday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $36.62 and a fifty-two week high of $56.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.07. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.76.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The casino operator reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.04). Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 45.82% and a net margin of 12.80%. Equities analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Monday, February 10th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is currently 50.76%.

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.