Boston, MA 05/20/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Developer and operator of integrated resorts in the U.S. and Asia, Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)’s Director has resorted to selling of part of his holding in the company despite the company’s latest quarter earnings beating analysts’ expectations. The move also comes even after some brokerages lifted the price target and reiterated their rating on the stock.
Insider Selling
One of the directors of Las Vegas Sands Corp. George Koo has divested 7,696 shares recently at an average cost of $79.46 amounting to approximately $612K; the company disclosed this in a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission or SEC. The Director was holding approximately 30K shares before he sold part of them in early this month.
The divestment has reduced his holding of shares in the company to 22,307 shares valuing it about $1.77 million. The sale of shares represented 25% of his total holding of a little over 30K shares in the company. Neither the company nor the Director has given any reason for selling of shares.
Rating of Stock
Credit Suisse has recently lifted its price target on Las Vegas Sands Corp. shares to $87.00 and has an “Outperform” rating. Similarly, Zacks reiterated “Outperform” rating on Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS)’s shares with a price target of $92.00, whereas Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target to $88.00 from $85.00. Shares of the company have an average rating of ‘Buy” with the average price target of $83.00.
Dividend Rate & Share Repurchase
Las Vegas Sands Corp. has recently lifted its quarterly dividend of 50 cents a share for the first quarter, representing an increase of 42.9% over the year-ago quarter.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS) has also bought back 10.0 million shares for about $810.0 million during the first quarter. The average cost per share worked out to $80.30 during the first quarter, which meant that the Director has sold it at a lesser price than the company paid to buy back its shares.
