Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) Short Interest Update

Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,140,000 shares, an increase of 16.6% from the February 13th total of 977,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading 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 Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LAND traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $10.45. 486,098 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 234,628. The firm has a market capitalization of $378.13 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.03, a PEG 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 has a 52-week low of $10.27 and a 52-week high of $15.36. The company's 50-day moving average is $11.05 and its 200-day moving average is $12.03.

Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $20.45 million. Analysts expect that Gladstone Land will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Gladstone Land Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Gladstone Land

In other Gladstone Land news, Director Anthony W. Parker sold 6,601 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total value of $72,743.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 7.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gladstone Land

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LAND. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Gladstone Land by 224.2% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,929 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,334 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in Gladstone Land in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Gladstone Land in the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. AlphaQuest LLC raised its position in Gladstone Land by 63.2% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 5,841 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 2,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Gladstone Land in the 4th quarter valued at about $118,000. 53.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut 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.