First Trust Advisors LP Raises Position in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. $GLPI

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) by 420.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,025,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 828,315 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.36% of Gaming and Leisure Properties worth $45,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Gaming and Leisure Properties in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in Gaming and Leisure Properties during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in the 1st quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Monetary Solutions Ltd bought a new stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties during the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,000. 91.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on GLPI. Stifel Nicolaus set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $53.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group set a $49.00 price target on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $52.00 to $49.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gaming and Leisure Properties presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.27.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.32, for a total transaction of $144,960.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 127,429 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,157,369.28. The trade was a 2.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 4.11% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Price Performance

Shares of GLPI opened at $45.17 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $12.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $45.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $46.25. The company has a current ratio of 6.29, a quick ratio of 6.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.17 and a 12 month high of $49.95.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.06. Gaming and Leisure Properties had a net margin of 55.56% and a return on equity of 18.06%. The company had revenue of $419.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.82 dividend. This is a boost from Gaming and Leisure Properties’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.78. This represents a $3.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s payout ratio is 104.13%.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Profile

Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc (NASDAQ: GLPI) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in the ownership and management of gaming and entertainment properties. Established in 2013 as a spin-off from Penn National Gaming, the company was designed to acquire and hold real estate assets associated with casinos, racetracks and other gaming facilities, while leasing those assets back to operating partners under long-term, triple-net lease agreements.

The company’s core activities involve identifying attractive gaming real estate, structuring lease agreements that align tenant incentives with property performance, and actively managing its portfolio to enhance asset value.