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

Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in 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 presently 3.0 days. Currently, 3.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Gladstone Land

In related news, Director Anthony W. Parker sold 6,601 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total value of $72,743.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 7.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gladstone Land

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Gladstone Land by 224.2% during 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. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new position in Gladstone Land during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Gladstone Land in the fourth quarter worth $62,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Gladstone Land by 63.2% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 5,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 2,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Gladstone Land in the fourth quarter worth $118,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.60% of the company’s stock.

Gladstone Land Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ:LAND opened at $10.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $11.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.06. Gladstone Land has a 52 week low of $10.27 and a 52 week high of $15.36. The company has a market capitalization of $386.09 million, a P/E ratio of -36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.99.

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

Gladstone Land Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 27th were issued a dividend of $0.0467 per share. This represents a yield of 5.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Gladstone Land’s previous dividend of $0.04. Gladstone Land’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -193.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.