Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) shares gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday after Macquarie lowered their price target on the stock from $122.00 to $117.00. The stock had previously closed at $112.68, but opened at $92.68. Macquarie currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Light & Wonder shares last traded at $93.94, with a volume of 244,750 shares trading hands.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on LNW. Maxim Group started coverage on shares of Light & Wonder in a report on Monday, August 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $144.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Light & Wonder from $108.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded Light & Wonder from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and set a $114.00 price target on shares of Light & Wonder in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Light & Wonder from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Light & Wonder currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.60.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Light & Wonder during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Light & Wonder in the 1st quarter valued at $38,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Light & Wonder by 59.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. purchased a new stake in Light & Wonder in the fourth quarter worth $69,000. Finally, KBC Group NV bought a new stake in shares of Light & Wonder during the fourth quarter worth $153,000. 88.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Light & Wonder Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $105.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $100.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 1.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a PE ratio of 38.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 1.77.

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.14). Light & Wonder had a net margin of 9.92% and a return on equity of 40.51%. The company had revenue of $818.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $798.09 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.02 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Light & Wonder, Inc. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

Light & Wonder announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Light & Wonder Company Profile

Light & Wonder, Inc operates as a cross-platform games company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Gaming, SciPlay, and iGaming segments. The Gaming segment sells game content and gaming machine; video gaming terminals; video lottery terminals, including conversion kits and spare parts; and table products, including automatic card shufflers, deck checkers, table roulette chip sorters and other land-based table gaming equipment.