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

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

Light & Wonder Stock Up 0.9 %

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

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts expect that Light & Wonder will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Light & Wonder declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, August 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 10.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Light & Wonder

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LNW. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Light & Wonder during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Light & Wonder by 59.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 407 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in shares of Light & Wonder in the 3rd quarter worth about $108,000. Smith Anglin Financial LLC bought a new position in Light & Wonder during the 2nd quarter valued at about $213,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Light & Wonder in the third quarter valued at about $261,000. Institutional investors own 88.08% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on LNW. B. Riley started coverage on shares of Light & Wonder in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $120.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Light & Wonder from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $114.00 price target on shares of Light & Wonder in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Light & Wonder from $120.00 to $115.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised Light & Wonder from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Light & Wonder has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.36.

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.