Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 350,250 Shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,104,552 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 350,250 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 1.51% of Gaming and Leisure Properties worth $185,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Gaming and Leisure Properties during the second quarter valued at approximately $662,000. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 12.8% during the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 1,130,526 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,111,000 after purchasing an additional 128,529 shares during the period. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Gaming and Leisure Properties during the second quarter valued at approximately $742,000. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 17.1% during the second quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 43,086 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 6,302 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 0.7% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 87,789 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,911,000 after acquiring an additional 584 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gaming and Leisure Properties news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 5,605 shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.89, for a total transaction of $274,028.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 156,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,660,329.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Gaming and Leisure Properties news, COO Brandon John Moore sold 30,900 shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.05, for a total transaction of $1,546,545.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 208,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,459,298.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director E Scott Urdang sold 5,605 shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties stock in a transaction on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.89, for a total transaction of $274,028.45. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 156,685 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,660,329.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 49,478 shares of company stock valued at $2,495,429 over the last three months. 4.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.11.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Trading Down 0.7 %

GLPI stock opened at $50.85 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $50.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.46. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $41.80 and a fifty-two week high of $52.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 5.91 and a current ratio of 5.91. The firm has a market cap of $13.81 billion, a PE ratio of 18.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.47 and a beta of 0.99.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.15). Gaming and Leisure Properties had a net margin of 52.79% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The business had revenue of $380.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.95 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s payout ratio is 112.18%.

About Gaming and Leisure Properties

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.