Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) Lifted to Buy at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on LNW. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Light & Wonder from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Light & Wonder from $76.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Susquehanna cut their price target on Light & Wonder from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Light & Wonder from $98.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $106.60.

Light & Wonder Stock Performance

Shares of LNW opened at $92.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.33, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.90, a current ratio of 1.85 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Light & Wonder has a one year low of $67.71 and a one year high of $115.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $105.25 and a 200 day moving average of $100.56.

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

Light & Wonder declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, August 7th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in shares of Light & Wonder by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 271,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,261,000 after acquiring an additional 42,927 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Light & Wonder in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,361,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Light & Wonder by 1,103.6% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 9,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $817,000 after purchasing an additional 9,127 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Light & Wonder by 1,626.9% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 8,807 shares of the company’s stock valued at $723,000 after purchasing an additional 8,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV purchased a new stake in Light & Wonder during the 4th quarter valued at $153,000. 88.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.