Freestone Capital Holdings LLC Buys Shares of 10,000 Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI)

Freestone Capital Holdings LLC bought a new position in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 10,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $461,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GLPI. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 40.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,709,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $627,204,000 after buying an additional 3,684,553 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties during the 4th quarter worth $141,537,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 54.8% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,378,874 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $166,747,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,765 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 9,511,521 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $469,394,000 after acquiring an additional 282,828 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,277,451 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $260,442,000 after purchasing an additional 275,026 shares in the last quarter. 91.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GLPI. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $56.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $51.00 target price on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research note on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gaming and Leisure Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.41.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Price Performance

GLPI traded up $0.54 during trading on Friday, hitting $49.52. 761,508 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,335,401. The company has a current ratio of 6.47, a quick ratio of 6.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49. The company has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a PE ratio of 17.98, a P/E/G ratio of 5.71 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.21. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.80 and a 1 year high of $49.99.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Gaming and Leisure Properties had a net margin of 50.05% and a return on equity of 16.79%. The company had revenue of $380.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.95 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. will post 3.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.14%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. 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.