Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) by 183.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 85,260 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 55,171 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties were worth $4,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GLPI. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 147.0% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 172,850 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,893,000 after buying an additional 102,858 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in Gaming and Leisure Properties during the third quarter worth about $311,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in Gaming and Leisure Properties during the third quarter worth about $693,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 182.2% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,214 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $165,000 after buying an additional 2,075 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 3.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,327,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,198,000 after buying an additional 96,028 shares during the period. 91.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on GLPI shares. Barclays dropped their price target on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $53.25 to $57.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.96.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gaming and Leisure Properties news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.89, for a total transaction of $254,450.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 140,953 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,173,098.17. This trade represents a 3.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Matthew Demchyk sold 1,903 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $98,936.97. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 41,298 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,147,083.02. This represents a 4.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,064 shares of company stock valued at $2,778,908 in the last quarter. Insiders own 4.37% of the company’s stock.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of GLPI opened at $50.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.00. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $41.80 and a one year 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.75.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last issued 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 firm 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. will post 3.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.92%.

About Gaming and Leisure Properties

Gaming & Leisure Properties, Inc engages in the provision of 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.