Centaurus Financial Inc. Acquires 1,279 Shares of Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW)

Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in Light & Wonder, Inc. (NASDAQ:LNW) by 67.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,167 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,279 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Light & Wonder were worth $332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Light & Wonder by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 8,653 shares of the company’s stock valued at $883,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Light & Wonder by 59.6% in the second 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. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Light & Wonder by 2.2% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,046 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Light & Wonder by 5.9% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 4,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in Light & Wonder by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 113,077 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,544,000 after buying an additional 298 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.08% of the company’s stock.

Light & Wonder Stock Performance

NASDAQ LNW opened at $93.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 38.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.90, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $103.88 and a 200-day moving average of $100.18. Light & Wonder, Inc. has a 52-week low of $67.71 and a 52-week high of $115.00.

Light & Wonder (NASDAQ:LNW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.14). The company 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%. The company’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.02 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Light & Wonder, Inc. will post 4.44 EPS for the current year.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on LNW shares. Susquehanna decreased their price target on shares of Light & Wonder from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 24th. Macquarie decreased their price objective on Light & Wonder from $122.00 to $117.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Light & Wonder from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group upgraded Light & Wonder from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Light & Wonder from $76.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.60.

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.