Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) saw a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 557,000 shares, a growth of 7.2% from the September 30th total of 519,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 162,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Gladstone Land

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gladstone Land by 3,910.3% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 3,050 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Gladstone Land in the 3rd quarter worth $50,000. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Gladstone Land in the 1st quarter worth $138,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Gladstone Land in the 1st quarter worth $152,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Gladstone Land by 41.0% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,280 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 3,572 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 53.60% of the company’s stock.

Gladstone Land Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of LAND traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $13.03. 187,152 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 179,583. Gladstone Land has a 1 year low of $12.31 and a 1 year high of $15.36. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $13.71 and its 200-day moving average is $13.63. The company has a current ratio of 4.43, a quick ratio of 4.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $466.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 220.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 1.07.

Gladstone Land Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.0467 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 20th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Gladstone Land’s dividend payout ratio is presently 933.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Maxim Group downgraded shares of Gladstone Land from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gladstone Land has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $16.00.

Gladstone Land Company Profile

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.