Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $73.43, but opened at $81.71. Light & Wonder shares last traded at $80.3310, with a volume of 702,661 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on LNW shares. Macquarie decreased their price target on shares of Light & Wonder from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Light & Wonder in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Light & Wonder from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 13th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Light & Wonder from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Light & Wonder from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $108.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $102.14.

Light & Wonder Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.86, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 1.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $82.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.45.

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.45 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $841.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $866.97 million. Light & Wonder had a return on equity of 71.17% and a net margin of 10.89%.The company’s revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Light & Wonder, Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Light & Wonder

In other Light & Wonder news, Director Antonia Korsanos purchased 8,065 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, August 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $80.05 per share, for a total transaction of $645,603.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 22,815 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,826,340.75. This represents a 54.68% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Timothy Throsby purchased 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $89.37 per share, for a total transaction of $1,787,400.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 42,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,868.34. This trade represents a 90.57% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have purchased a total of 29,481 shares of company stock worth $2,556,936 in the last three months. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Light & Wonder by 3.7% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,632,562 shares of the company’s stock valued at $157,150,000 after buying an additional 57,973 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Light & Wonder in the second quarter valued at approximately $99,368,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Light & Wonder by 0.4% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 901,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,104,000 after buying an additional 3,472 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Light & Wonder by 1.0% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 733,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,562,000 after buying an additional 7,544 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV raised its holdings in Light & Wonder by 1.9% in the first quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 582,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,487,000 after buying an additional 10,926 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.08% of the company’s stock.

Light & Wonder Company Profile

Light & Wonder, Inc is a cross-platform global games company, which engages in the development of content and digital markets. It operates through the following segments: Gaming, SciPlay, and iGaming. The Gaming segment includes the design, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of portfolio of gaming products and services.