Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) Shares Down 6.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) shares were down 6.5% on Thursday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $83.00 to $79.00. Mizuho currently has an underperform rating on the stock. Light & Wonder traded as low as $89.79 and last traded at $90.22. Approximately 681,850 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 18% from the average daily volume of 579,045 shares. The stock had previously closed at $96.52.

LNW has been the subject of a number of other reports. Redburn Atlantic lowered Light & Wonder from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $105.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $103.00 target price (up from $97.00) on shares of Light & Wonder in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Light & Wonder from $100.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Light & Wonder from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Light & Wonder from $98.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Light & Wonder has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.42.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Vanja Kalabic sold 1,149 shares of Light & Wonder stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.72, for a total transaction of $115,727.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,600 shares in the company, valued at $161,152. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP James Sottile sold 1,549 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.15, for a total transaction of $156,681.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 57,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,813,899.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Vanja Kalabic sold 1,149 shares of Light & Wonder stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.72, for a total transaction of $115,727.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $161,152. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,537 shares of company stock valued at $760,427. Corporate insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Light & Wonder

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Light & Wonder in the first quarter worth about $773,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Light & Wonder by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 20,642 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,107,000 after acquiring an additional 777 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Light & Wonder by 3.9% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 43,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,432,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Light & Wonder by 33.0% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,828 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,003,000 after acquiring an additional 2,437 shares during the period. Finally, Lisanti Capital Growth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Light & Wonder in the first quarter valued at $3,975,000. 88.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Light & Wonder Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $97.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.41. The company has a market capitalization of $8.28 billion, a PE ratio of 52.02 and a beta of 1.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.04.

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.03). Light & Wonder had a net margin of 5.58% and a return on equity of 23.68%. The firm had revenue of $770.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $748.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Light & Wonder, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.