Holocene Advisors LP Purchases Shares of 202,864 Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 202,864 shares of the casino operator’s stock, valued at approximately $10,212,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 987.0% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 5,549,615 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $245,570,000 after buying an additional 5,039,072 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 15.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,351,573 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $502,307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,754 shares in the last quarter. Charles Lim Capital Ltd lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 178.3% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Lim Capital Ltd now owns 1,600,000 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $70,800,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025,000 shares in the last quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 24.8% in the 3rd quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 4,924,340 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $247,891,000 after purchasing an additional 977,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in Las Vegas Sands by 44.1% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,949,670 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $130,523,000 after purchasing an additional 903,400 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Las Vegas Sands Price Performance

LVS opened at $53.90 on Wednesday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a 12-month low of $36.62 and a 12-month high of $55.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.12. The company has a market capitalization of $39.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.10.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.09). Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 44.26% and a net margin of 13.29%. The firm had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.79 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. Las Vegas Sands’s quarterly revenue was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands Corp. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 5th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 5th. Las Vegas Sands’s payout ratio is currently 39.60%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho boosted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Argus cut Las Vegas Sands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Las Vegas Sands currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.00.

Insider Activity at Las Vegas Sands

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.02, for a total transaction of $3,191,114.74. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of Las Vegas Sands stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total value of $1,264,848.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 60,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,129,724. This represents a 28.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 203,732 shares of company stock valued at $10,861,707 over the last quarter. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Las Vegas Sands 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.