DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Buys 971 Shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. $GLPI

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) by 1.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 88,176 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 971 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties were worth $4,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 3.1% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,556,825 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $588,242,000 after buying an additional 349,065 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 1.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,766,108 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $242,597,000 after buying an additional 77,562 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 127.7% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,512,234 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $229,673,000 after buying an additional 2,530,463 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 0.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,293,551 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $167,642,000 after buying an additional 10,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Gaming and Leisure Properties during the first quarter worth about $151,723,000. 91.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on GLPI shares. Barclays upgraded Gaming and Leisure Properties from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a report on Saturday. Finally, Macquarie cut their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.94.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.54, for a total transaction of $139,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 133,953 shares in the company, valued at $6,234,172.62. This represents a 2.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.26% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of GLPI stock opened at $44.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.68 billion, a PE ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 9.75 and a beta of 0.74. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. has a 1-year low of $44.21 and a 1-year high of $52.27. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.67 and a 200 day moving average of $46.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 7.39 and a quick ratio of 7.39.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $394.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $397.27 million. Gaming and Leisure Properties had a net margin of 46.32% and a return on equity of 15.43%. The company’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. will post 3.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.78 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. This represents a $3.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.0%. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 120.93%.

About Gaming and Leisure Properties

Gaming & Leisure Properties, Inc engages in the provision of acquiring, financing, and owning real estate property to be leased to gaming operators in triple-net lease arrangements. The company was founded on February 13, 2013 and is headquartered in Wyomissing, PA.