Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC Sells 37,500 Shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI)

Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC decreased its holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) by 28.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 92,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 37,500 shares during the quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties were worth $4,182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLPI. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,843 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 1,605 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 224,799 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,094,000 after buying an additional 6,351 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 17,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $881,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 33.9% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 29,631 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,462,000 after purchasing an additional 7,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 88.3% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 418,246 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,642,000 after purchasing an additional 196,084 shares during the last quarter. 91.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ GLPI opened at $50.75 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.91, a current ratio of 5.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.70. The firm has a market cap of $13.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.36 and a beta of 0.99. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $41.80 and a twelve month high of $52.60.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $380.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.95 million. Gaming and Leisure Properties had a return on equity of 17.60% and a net margin of 52.79%. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. Analysts expect 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s payout ratio is 112.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GLPI has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com raised Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised 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 note on Friday, August 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.11.

Insider Transactions at Gaming and Leisure Properties

In other news, CFO Desiree A. Burke sold 12,973 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.02, for a total value of $674,855.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 108,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,621,957.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 5,605 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,660,329.65. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Desiree A. Burke sold 12,973 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.02, for a total value of $674,855.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 108,073 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,621,957.46. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 49,478 shares of company stock valued at $2,495,429. Corporate insiders own 4.40% 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.