Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) Short Interest Update

Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 781,700 shares, an increase of 16.6% from the December 15th total of 670,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 273,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Alliance Global Partners downgraded Gladstone Land from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $16.00 to $14.50 in a research note on Friday, November 8th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LAND. Marathon Capital Management grew its holdings in Gladstone Land by 0.5% during the second quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 154,271 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,112,000 after buying an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in Gladstone Land by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 13,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $190,000 after acquiring an additional 1,172 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Gladstone Land by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 37,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $521,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gladstone Land by 224.2% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centiva Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Gladstone Land by 13.2% during the third quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 14,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691 shares in the last quarter. 53.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Gladstone Land Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LAND opened at $10.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.29 and its 200-day moving average is $12.98. Gladstone Land has a twelve month low of $10.27 and a twelve month high of $15.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $389.77 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.42, a PEG ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.05.

Gladstone Land Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th will be paid a $0.0467 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 24th. Gladstone Land’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -215.38%.

About Gladstone Land

Founded in 1997, Gladstone Land is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires and owns farmland and farm-related properties located in major agricultural markets in the U.S. and leases its properties to unrelated third-party farmers. The Company, which reports the aggregate fair value of its farmland holdings on a quarterly basis, currently owns 169 farms, comprised of approximately 116,000 acres in 15 different states and over 45,000 acre-feet of banked water in California, valued at a total of approximately $1.6 billion.