Engine Capital Management LP Raises Stake in Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW)

Engine Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) by 1,110.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 175,524 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 161,018 shares during the quarter. Light & Wonder comprises about 2.8% of Engine Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Engine Capital Management LP’s holdings in Light & Wonder were worth $15,162,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Light & Wonder in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,683,000. Park West Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Light & Wonder in the 4th quarter valued at $46,241,000. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Light & Wonder during the 4th quarter valued at $16,020,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Light & Wonder by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 587,809 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,775,000 after purchasing an additional 158,790 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI purchased a new stake in shares of Light & Wonder in the fourth quarter worth $12,033,000. 88.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Vanja Kalabic sold 1,132 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.41, for a total value of $118,192.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 5,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,720.56. This represents a 18.41 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Oliver Chow sold 2,595 shares of Light & Wonder stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.94, for a total value of $272,319.30. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 3,695 shares in the company, valued at $387,753.30. This represents a 41.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 9,867 shares of company stock worth $1,037,884 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LNW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho upped their target price on Light & Wonder from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Macquarie lowered their target price on shares of Light & Wonder from $125.00 to $120.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Light & Wonder from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Light & Wonder from $115.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Light & Wonder from $114.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.55.

Light & Wonder Trading Down 14.0 %

NASDAQ LNW opened at $80.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.30. Light & Wonder, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.46 and a fifty-two week high of $115.00. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.49, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 1.88.

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.17 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $774.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $802.93 million. Light & Wonder had a net margin of 9.30% and a return on equity of 49.91%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Light & Wonder, Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Light & Wonder Company Profile

Light & Wonder, Inc is a cross-platform global games company, which engages in the development of content and digital markets. It operates through the following segments: Gaming, SciPlay, and iGaming. The Gaming segment includes the design, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of portfolio of gaming products and services.