Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) Stock Rating Upgraded by Hsbc Global Res

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) was upgraded by research analysts at Hsbc Global Res to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on LVS. Macquarie cut their target price 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. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $64.50 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Mizuho set a $47.00 price objective on Las Vegas Sands in a research note on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.75.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:LVS opened at $35.87 on Thursday. Las Vegas Sands has a 12 month low of $30.18 and a 12 month high of $56.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $39.27 and its 200 day moving average is $45.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.35 billion, a PE ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.99.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.86 billion during 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Las Vegas Sands declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, April 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the casino operator to buy up to 8.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Las Vegas Sands

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Las Vegas Sands by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 58,824,289 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $3,021,205,000 after acquiring an additional 12,304,533 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Las Vegas Sands by 55.7% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 14,218,581 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $730,295,000 after buying an additional 5,088,095 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the fourth quarter valued at about $216,571,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $481,873,000 after buying an additional 2,152,829 shares during the period. Finally, ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 32.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Las Vegas Sands Company Profile

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.