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

Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) shares gapped up before the market opened 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 changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LNW has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Light & Wonder from $110.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Light & Wonder in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Macquarie dropped their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Light & Wonder from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $108.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Light & Wonder from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Light & Wonder has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $102.14.

Light & Wonder Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.86, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The firm has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.83, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.42. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $82.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.45.

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.45 by ($0.11). Light & Wonder had a return on equity of 71.17% and a net margin of 10.89%.The company had revenue of $841.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $866.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Light & Wonder, Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Light & Wonder

In related news, Director Timothy Throsby purchased 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $89.37 per share, with a total value of $1,787,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 42,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,868.34. This represents a 90.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Hamish Mclennan purchased 1,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $87.61 per share, with a total value of $120,901.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 6,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $558,951.80. This represents a 27.60% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 29,481 shares of company stock valued at $2,556,936. 2.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Light & Wonder

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Light & Wonder by 0.6% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 22,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,907,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Light & Wonder by 0.6% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 24,955 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,095,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Light & Wonder by 41.8% in the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 604 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Light & Wonder by 198.9% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 269 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Light & Wonder by 6.3% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.08% of the company’s stock.

About Light & Wonder

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.