Perpetual Ltd Cuts Stake in Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW)

Perpetual Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) by 6.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 477,389 shares of the company’s stock after selling 34,768 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd owned about 0.54% of Light & Wonder worth $43,314,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of LNW. Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake 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 in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Light & Wonder by 573.3% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 579,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,761,000 after acquiring an additional 493,295 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Light & Wonder by 95.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 896,372 shares of the company’s stock valued at $73,601,000 after acquiring an additional 438,443 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Light & Wonder by 102.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 767,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $78,320,000 after acquiring an additional 388,781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Light & Wonder during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,597,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.08% of the company’s stock.

Light & Wonder Price Performance

Light & Wonder stock opened at $96.08 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $8.52 billion, a PE ratio of 39.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.76. Light & Wonder, Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.63 and a 52-week high of $115.00. 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 company’s 50 day moving average is $103.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $99.98.

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last released its 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). The business had revenue of $818.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $798.09 million. Light & Wonder had a return on equity of 40.51% and a net margin of 9.92%. Light & Wonder’s quarterly revenue was up 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Light & Wonder, Inc. will post 4.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Light & Wonder announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, August 7th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 10.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on LNW. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $114.00 price objective on shares of Light & Wonder in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Truist Financial boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Light & Wonder from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Macquarie decreased their target price on shares of Light & Wonder from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on shares of Light & Wonder from $108.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Light & Wonder presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $107.82.

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.