California Public Employees Retirement System Purchases 41,586 Shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI)

California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) by 5.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 866,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 41,586 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Gaming and Leisure Properties were worth $41,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GLPI. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties by 106.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 44,745 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,155,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 24,560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,498 shares in the last quarter. Aew Capital Management L P lifted its position in Gaming and Leisure Properties by 1,786.5% during the fourth quarter. Aew Capital Management L P now owns 761,600 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,679,000 after purchasing an additional 721,230 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Gaming and Leisure Properties in the 4th quarter worth approximately $49,188,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in the 4th quarter worth $768,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Gaming and Leisure Properties

In related news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $7,173,098.17. The trade was a 3.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Matthew Demchyk sold 10,474 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.62, for a total transaction of $509,245.88. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 71,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,488,825.34. This trade represents a 12.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,933 shares of company stock worth $2,533,487 over the last quarter. 4.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GLPI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Gaming and Leisure Properties from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $53.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.96.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of GLPI opened at $50.56 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.69. Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. has a twelve month low of $41.80 and a twelve month high of $52.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 11.35, a current ratio of 11.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

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

Gaming and Leisure Properties Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.01%. Gaming and Leisure Properties’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.