Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,560,000 shares, a drop of 28.4% from the October 15th total of 2,180,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 679,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Light & Wonder

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its stake in Light & Wonder by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,452,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $131,745,000 after purchasing an additional 324,088 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its stake in Light & Wonder by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,315,572 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,307,000 after purchasing an additional 15,902 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in shares of Light & Wonder by 128.0% during the second quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 910,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $95,472,000 after purchasing an additional 511,081 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Light & Wonder by 1.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 802,922 shares of the company’s stock worth $84,215,000 after purchasing an additional 12,317 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Light & Wonder by 102.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 767,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,320,000 after purchasing an additional 388,781 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LNW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Light & Wonder from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. B. Riley started coverage on shares of Light & Wonder in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upgraded shares of Light & Wonder from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Macquarie reduced their price target on shares of Light & Wonder from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised Light & Wonder to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Light & Wonder has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $107.36.

Light & Wonder Stock Performance

LNW traded up $0.82 during trading on Thursday, hitting $93.10. The stock had a trading volume of 898,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 711,560. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.90, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.85. Light & Wonder has a twelve month low of $76.52 and a twelve month high of $115.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $98.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $99.86.

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $817.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $826.65 million. Light & Wonder had a net margin of 9.30% and a return on equity of 50.89%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Light & Wonder will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Light & Wonder announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, August 7th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership 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.