Heitman Real Estate Securities LLC Invests $23.17 Million in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI)

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

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLPI. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in the second quarter worth $3,165,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in the 3rd quarter valued at about $693,000. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 63.1% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 51,991 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,351,000 after purchasing an additional 20,111 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 11.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 539,593 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,395,000 after acquiring an additional 55,385 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 14.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 793,885 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $35,892,000 after purchasing an additional 97,594 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on GLPI. Mizuho reduced their price objective 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective (up previously from $51.00) on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.32.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of GLPI stock opened at $51.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $50.60 and a 200-day moving average of $48.74. The company has a quick ratio of 11.35, a current ratio of 11.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. has a 12-month low of $41.80 and a 12-month high of $52.60.

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

Gaming and Leisure Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.92%. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s dividend payout ratio is currently 106.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 146,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,397,252. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 4.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Company 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.