Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,981,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 394,069 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 1.09% of Gaming and Leisure Properties worth $143,592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GLPI. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund boosted its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 118.4% in the 4th quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 123,579 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,952,000 after purchasing an additional 67,000 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 520,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,062,000 after purchasing an additional 5,786 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 74,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,602,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 129.3% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 18,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 10,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 59.7% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 647 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.72, for a total transaction of $248,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 145,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,256,783.16. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Brandon John Moore sold 3,982 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.84, for a total transaction of $190,498.88. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 278,634 shares in the company, valued at $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. Insiders sold a total of 38,222 shares of company stock worth $1,873,547 in the last three months. 4.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GLPI shares. Barclays started coverage on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $54.53 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $53.25 to $57.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $53.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $49.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gaming and Leisure Properties presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.15.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ GLPI opened at $50.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 11.35, a quick 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.78 billion, a PE ratio of 17.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.77.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $389.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.54 million. Gaming and Leisure Properties had a net margin of 51.65% and a return on equity of 17.41%. Equities analysts expect that Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. will post 3.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.06%. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s payout ratio is 105.92%.

Gaming and Leisure Properties 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.