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

Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) was the recipient 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 daily volume of 273,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Gladstone Land Trading Down 0.5 %

LAND opened at $10.77 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $11.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $12.98. Gladstone Land has a 1 year low of $10.27 and a 1 year high of $15.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Gladstone Land Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gladstone Land

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marathon Capital Management increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 781 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew 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 worth $190,000 after buying an additional 1,172 shares during the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC increased its position in Gladstone Land by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 37,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centiva Capital LP raised its stake in Gladstone Land by 13.2% in the third quarter. Centiva Capital LP now owns 14,487 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 1,691 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.