Should I Buy Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (GLPI)?

Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and successful value investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds’ and successful investors’ positions as of the end of the third quarter. You can find articles about an individual hedge fund’s trades on numerous financial news websites. However, in this article we will take a look at their collective moves over the last 6 years and analyze what the smart money thinks of Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI) based on that data.

Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI) investors should pay attention to an increase in hedge fund interest of late. Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI) was in 29 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of September. The all time high for this statistic is 59. Our calculations also showed that GLPI isn’t among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds (click for Q3 rankings).

At Insider Monkey, we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. For example, lithium prices have more than doubled over the past year, so we go through lists like the 10 best EV stocks to pick the next Tesla that will deliver a 10x return. Even though we recommend positions in only a tiny fraction of the companies we analyze, we check out as many stocks as we can. Keeping this in mind let’s take a peek at the new hedge fund action surrounding Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI).

Peter Algert of Algert Global

Do Hedge Funds Think GLPI Is A Good Stock To Buy Now?

At the end of September, a total of 29 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey were bullish on this stock, a change of 7% from the previous quarter. On the other hand, there were a total of 30 hedge funds with a bullish position in GLPI a year ago. With hedge funds’ capital changing hands, there exists a few key hedge fund managers who were adding to their stakes considerably (or already accumulated large positions).

Among these funds, Gates Capital Management held the most valuable stake in Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI), which was worth $169.3 million at the end of the third quarter. On the second spot was Cardinal Capital which amassed $91 million worth of shares. Waterfront Capital Partners, Millennium Management, and Citadel Investment Group were also very fond of the stock, becoming one of the largest hedge fund holders of the company. In terms of the portfolio weights assigned to each position Franklin Street Capital allocated the biggest weight to Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI), around 5.36% of its 13F portfolio. Gates Capital Management is also relatively very bullish on the stock, designating 4.66 percent of its 13F equity portfolio to GLPI.

With a general bullishness amongst the heavyweights, key money managers have jumped into Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI) headfirst. Tudor Investment Corp, managed by Paul Tudor Jones, assembled the largest position in Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI). Tudor Investment Corp had $6.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Kamyar Khajavi’s MIK Capital also initiated a $3.3 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new GLPI positions are Daniel Johnson’s Gillson Capital, Peter Algert’s Algert Global, and Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corp.

Let’s now review hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Weibo Corp (NASDAQ:WB), Five9 Inc (NASDAQ:FIVN), Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited (NYSE:RDY), Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA), Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited (NYSE:TEVA), and Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (NYSE:BAH). This group of stocks’ market valuations are similar to GLPI’s market valuation.

View table here if you experience formatting issues.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 31.1 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $938 million. That figure was $517 million in GLPI’s case. Five9 Inc (NASDAQ:FIVN) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Limited (NYSE:RDY) is the least popular one with only 12 bullish hedge fund positions. Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (NASDAQ:GLPI) is not the least popular stock in this group but hedge fund interest is still below average. Our overall hedge fund sentiment score for GLPI is 35. Stocks with higher number of hedge fund positions relative to other stocks as well as relative to their historical range receive a higher sentiment score. This is a slightly negative signal and we’d rather spend our time researching stocks that hedge funds are piling on. Our calculations showed that top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds returned 95.8% in 2019 and 2020, and outperformed the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by 40 percentage points. These stocks gained 28.6% in 2021 through November 30th and surpassed the market again by 5.6 percentage points. Unfortunately GLPI wasn’t nearly as popular as these 5 stocks (hedge fund sentiment was quite bearish); GLPI investors were disappointed as the stock returned -2.6% since the end of September (through 11/30) and underperformed the market. If you are interested in investing in large cap stocks with huge upside potential, you should check out the top 5 most popular stocks among hedge funds as most of these stocks already outperformed the market in 2021.

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Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey.