** Citi analysts raise their target price on Australia's Aristocrat Leisure to A$74.00 per share from A$59.00 per share, maintain "buy" rating on stock

** The brokerage expects the casino and gaming co to post a FY24 earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation of A$2.10 billion ($1.38 billion) due to strong industry growth in the United States

** Says it hopes the company will announce the sale of its ex-Social Casino digital games portfolio, even though it may not be the base case

** Broker lifts its EBITA estimate for FY25/FY26 by 2%-3% for co

** "The incoming US government’s pro-growth policies appear favourable for Aristocrat. We see this and the continued strong outlook for market share growth in Gaming and Interactive as sufficient reasons to stay positive on the stock," Citi analysts write

** 12 of 13 analysts rate the stock "buy" or higher, one "hold" and none "sell" or lower; their median PT is A$60.50 – LSEG data

** Stock has risen 57.8% this year, as of last close

($1 = 1.5202 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Archishma Iyer; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

((Archishma.Iyer@thomsonreuters.com;))