Las Vegas Sands Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:LVS)

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 30,405 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 47% compared to the typical volume of 20,661 call options.

Las Vegas Sands Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE LVS opened at $43.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $31.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.09, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $50.49 and its 200-day moving average is $46.64. Las Vegas Sands has a one year low of $36.62 and a one year high of $56.60.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:LVS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The casino operator reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $2.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. Las Vegas Sands had a return on equity of 44.26% and a net margin of 13.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Las Vegas Sands will post 2.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 60,187 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Robert G. Goldstein sold 24,324 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.00, for a total value of $1,264,848.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 60,187 shares in the company, valued at $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 sold a total of 203,732 shares of company stock worth $10,861,707 in the last 90 days. 0.91% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Las Vegas Sands

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LVS. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the third quarter worth about $26,000. CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 118.8% during the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 560 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 73.5% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 583 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Las Vegas Sands during the third quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Las Vegas Sands by 40.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 849 shares of the casino operator’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 39.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Mizuho lifted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Las Vegas Sands from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their price target on Las Vegas Sands from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on Las Vegas Sands from $51.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.92.

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.