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

Shares of Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) dropped 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 traded hands 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.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Light & Wonder from $90.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective (up previously from $97.00) on shares of Light & Wonder in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Light & Wonder from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Macquarie lifted their price target on shares of Light & Wonder from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.42.

Insider Buying and Selling at Light & Wonder

In related news, VP James Sottile sold 1,549 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.15, for a total transaction of $156,681.35. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 57,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,813,899.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP James Sottile sold 1,549 shares of Light & Wonder stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.15, for a total transaction of $156,681.35. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 57,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,813,899.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Vanja Kalabic sold 1,149 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 1,600 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $161,152. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,537 shares of company stock valued at $760,427 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Light & Wonder

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Light & Wonder by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,152,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $652,878,000 after purchasing an additional 46,751 shares in the last quarter. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC purchased a new position in Light & Wonder in the 4th quarter worth about $6,848,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Light & Wonder by 128.7% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 19,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,561,000 after acquiring an additional 10,702 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Light & Wonder by 95.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 168,548 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,021,000 after acquiring an additional 82,460 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in Light & Wonder during the third quarter valued at approximately $565,000. 88.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Light & Wonder Stock Down 5.1 %

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

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $770.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $748.30 million. Light & Wonder had a return on equity of 23.68% and a net margin of 5.58%. The company’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.12 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Light & Wonder, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Light & Wonder

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.