HighTower Advisors LLC Has $82.49 Million Holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,712,911 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,973 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties were worth $82,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 39.8% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 181,416 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,737,000 after purchasing an additional 51,662 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 13,348 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $643,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $812,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 10,308 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inceptionr LLC grew its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 76.4% in the fourth quarter. Inceptionr LLC now owns 35,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,694,000 after buying an additional 15,235 shares in the last quarter. 91.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GLPI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $53.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $49.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gaming and Leisure Properties currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.96.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties stock opened at $49.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $13.67 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $48.67 and a 200-day moving average of $49.81. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 11.35 and a current ratio of 11.35.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $389.62 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $391.54 million. Gaming and Leisure Properties had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 51.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. will post 3.81 EPS for the current year.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s payout ratio is 105.92%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gaming and Leisure Properties news, SVP Matthew Demchyk sold 1,149 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.80, for a total transaction of $54,922.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 91,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,379,436. The trade was a 1.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Brandon John Moore sold 3,982 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.84, for a total value of $190,498.88. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 278,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,329,850.56. This trade represents a 1.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,064 shares of company stock valued at $2,778,908. 4.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Company Profile

Gaming & Leisure Properties, Inc engages in 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.