Trading heavy in gaming stocks

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 11:48 a.m.

Institutional buying drove trading in Park Place Entertainment Corp. stock to 10 times normal daily volume Wednesday, lifting the price 4.8 percent.

Park Place stock closed at a 12-month high of $12.375, up 56.25 cents a share, on volume of 11.4 million shares Wednesday. Trading in Park Place has averaged 1.2 million shares a day over the past two months.

By midday today, the stock was quoted at $12.375, up another 25 cents a share, on volume of more than 4 million shares.

Among factors prompting the increased buying were recent ratings increases on Park Place stock by some prominent Wall Street analysts and the company's addition to the S&P Midcap 400, a move that stimulated buying by mutual funds and other institutional investors.

The performance of the company's new Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip also has exceeded the expectations of Park Place executives and some Wall Street analysts.

The stock of slot designer and route operator Anchor Gaming was another winner Wednesday, improving 9.7 percent from Tuesday's close to $58.4375, up $5.1875 a share. The move came the same day Jason Ader of Bear Stearns & Co. upgraded his rating on the company to "attractive" from "neutral."

Anchor stock rose another $1.0625 a share, to $59.50, as of midday today.