Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) Declares $0.76 Quarterly Dividend

Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 26th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.76 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th.

Gaming and Leisure Properties has increased its dividend by an average of 5.8% per year over the last three years. Gaming and Leisure Properties has a dividend payout ratio of 101.7% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Gaming and Leisure Properties to earn $3.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.0%.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Trading Down 0.2 %

GLPI stock traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $51.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,372,211 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,314,173. Gaming and Leisure Properties has a 1 year low of $41.80 and a 1 year high of $52.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 11.35 and a current ratio of 11.35.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.25). The company had revenue of $385.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $385.09 million. Gaming and Leisure Properties had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 51.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Gaming and Leisure Properties will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Gaming and Leisure Properties

In related news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 6,885 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.16, for a total transaction of $345,351.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 149,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,513,968. This represents a 4.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Desiree A. Burke sold 12,973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.02, for a total transaction of $674,855.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 108,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,621,957.46. This trade represents a 10.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 22,858 shares of company stock worth $1,171,377 over the last 90 days. 4.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GLPI. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. StockNews.com downgraded Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Raymond James raised their price target 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $54.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $52.00 price objective (up from $51.00) on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Gaming and Leisure Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.32.

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.