Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 339 Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)

Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) by 3.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,271 shares of the casino operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Las Vegas Sands were worth $567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LVS. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 118.8% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 560 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands in the 3rd quarter worth about $34,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 93.2% in the 2nd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 906 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 40.1% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 849 shares of the casino operator’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. 39.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Las Vegas Sands

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 60,187 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,129,724. The trade was a 28.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on LVS shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Four 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.00.

Las Vegas Sands Stock Performance

Las Vegas Sands stock opened at $47.96 on Monday. Las Vegas Sands Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $36.62 and a fifty-two week high of $55.65. The company has a market capitalization of $34.77 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $48.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.90.

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

Las Vegas Sands Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, November 5th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. Las Vegas Sands’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.60%.

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.