Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (GLPI) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 6th

Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLPI) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, November 25th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of 0.76 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, December 20th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.95%. 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% annually 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 Down 0.5 %

Shares of GLPI stock opened at $51.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 11.35 and a quick ratio of 11.35. The company has a market cap of $14.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.98. Gaming and Leisure Properties has a 1 year low of $41.80 and a 1 year high of $52.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $50.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.77.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gaming and Leisure Properties news, Director E Scott Urdang sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.39, for a total transaction of $151,170.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 146,800 shares in the company, valued at $7,397,252. This represents a 2.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on GLPI. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Wolfe Research raised shares of 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 report on Friday, August 23rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Gaming and Leisure Properties in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Gaming and Leisure Properties from $53.25 to $57.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.