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

Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, November 26th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders 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 5.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th.

Gaming and Leisure Properties has increased its dividend payment 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. Equities 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 Up 1.1 %

Shares of GLPI stock traded up $0.57 on Wednesday, hitting $51.74. 29,540 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,308,546. 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 has a twelve month low of $41.80 and a twelve month high of $52.60. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $50.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.20 billion, a PE ratio of 17.89, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.99.

Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ:GLPI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.25). The firm had revenue of $385.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $385.09 million. Gaming and Leisure Properties had a net margin of 51.93% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gaming and Leisure Properties will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GLPI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Mizuho cut their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $49.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective (up from $51.00) on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gaming and Leisure Properties currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.32.

Insider Activity at Gaming and Leisure Properties

In related news, CFO Desiree A. Burke sold 12,973 shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties 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 in the company, valued at approximately $5,621,957.46. This trade represents a 10.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director E Scott Urdang sold 3,000 shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.39, for a total value of $151,170.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 146,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,397,252. This trade represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 22,858 shares of company stock worth $1,171,377. Company insiders own 4.37% of the company’s stock.

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.