Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.25 Per Share

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the casino operator on Wednesday, February 19th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 10th. This is an increase from Las Vegas Sands’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

Las Vegas Sands has a dividend payout ratio of 33.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Las Vegas Sands to earn $2.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 33.8%.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Up 1.6 %

Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $43.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market cap of $31.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.08. Las Vegas Sands has a fifty-two week low of $36.62 and a fifty-two week high of $56.60. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.80.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The casino operator reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.04). Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 43.76% and a net margin of 12.80%. Research analysts predict that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LVS. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup increased their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $62.00 to $61.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Macquarie boosted their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $51.00 target price (down from $54.00) on shares of Las Vegas Sands in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.91% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.