Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) Short Interest Up 16.6% in February

Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,140,000 shares, a growth of 16.6% from the February 13th total of 977,600 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 376,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.0 days. Currently, 3.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Gladstone Land Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ LAND traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.70. 322,615 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 232,361. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $387.18 million, a PE ratio of -36.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.08. Gladstone Land has a 52 week low of $10.27 and a 52 week high of $15.36.

Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.19. The business had revenue of $21.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.45 million. Gladstone Land had a return on equity of 1.89% and a net margin of 15.59%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gladstone Land will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Gladstone Land Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 27th were given a $0.0467 dividend. This is a boost from Gladstone Land’s previous dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.33%. Gladstone Land’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -193.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Gladstone Land news, Director Anthony W. Parker sold 6,601 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total transaction of $72,743.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 7.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gladstone Land

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of Gladstone Land by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,409 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 3,556 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Gladstone Land by 62.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 139,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,936,000 after purchasing an additional 53,400 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Gladstone Land by 90.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 85,297 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 40,459 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Gladstone Land by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 795,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,061,000 after purchasing an additional 16,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Gladstone Land by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 900,632 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,521,000 after purchasing an additional 13,217 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Gladstone Land from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th.

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.