Short Interest in Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) Expands By 16.6%

Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of 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 daily trading volume, of 273,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gladstone Land

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Gladstone Land by 1.5% during the third 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 during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Gladstone Land by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 795,775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,061,000 after buying an additional 16,079 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Gladstone Land by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 251,838 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,501,000 after buying an additional 9,143 shares during the period. Marathon Capital Management grew its stake in Gladstone Land by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Marathon Capital Management now owns 154,271 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,112,000 after buying an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Gladstone Land by 62.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 139,298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,936,000 after acquiring an additional 53,400 shares during the period. 53.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Alliance Global Partners lowered 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 report on Friday, November 8th.

Gladstone Land Stock Performance

LAND stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $10.77. The company had a trading volume of 268,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 312,437. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market cap of $389.77 million, a PE ratio of -41.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 1.05. Gladstone Land has a 12 month low of $10.27 and a 12 month high of $15.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $11.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $12.98.

Gladstone Land Dividend Announcement

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