450,297 Shares in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) Acquired by Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC

Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 450,297 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $23,168,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLPI. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 52.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 54,504 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,511,000 after buying an additional 18,837 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 41.6% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,545 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the period. DNB Asset Management AS increased its stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 2.7% in the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 40,644 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,838,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 18,500.0% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties during the second quarter worth about $209,000. 91.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GLPI has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $53.25 to $57.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.32.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:GLPI opened at $51.35 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 11.35, a current ratio of 11.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.74. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.80 and a 52-week high of $52.60. The company has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.98.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.25). Gaming and Leisure Properties had a net margin of 51.93% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The company had revenue of $385.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $385.09 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.92%. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 106.29%.

Insider Activity

In other Gaming and Leisure Properties news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 3,000 shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.39, for a total value of $151,170.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 146,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,397,252. The trade was a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.37% of the company’s stock.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Profile

GLPI is engaged in the business of acquiring, financing, and owning real estate property to be leased to gaming operators in triple-net lease arrangements, pursuant to which the tenant is responsible for all facility maintenance, insurance required in connection with the leased properties and the business conducted on the leased properties, taxes levied on or with respect to the leased properties and all utilities and other services necessary or appropriate for the leased properties and the business conducted on the leased properties.