Southern Style Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 174,430 Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND)

Southern Style Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 174,430 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $1,893,000. Gladstone Land accounts for about 1.5% of Southern Style Financial Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Southern Style Financial Inc. owned 0.48% of Gladstone Land at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LAND. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in Gladstone Land by 22.3% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,016 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $163,000 after buying an additional 2,736 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Gladstone Land by 62.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 139,298 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,936,000 after acquiring an additional 53,400 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in Gladstone Land by 90.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 85,297 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 40,459 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Gladstone Land by 1.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 13,217 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gladstone Land by 29.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 43,121 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 9,731 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 53.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Alliance Global Partners downgraded Gladstone Land from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $16.00 to $14.50 in a research report on Friday, November 8th.

Gladstone Land Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ LAND traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $10.86. The stock had a trading volume of 256,468 shares, compared to its average volume of 284,979. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Gladstone Land Co. has a 1-year low of $10.27 and a 1-year high of $15.36. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $11.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.74. The company has a market capitalization of $392.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -41.77, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.05.

Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.29). The company had revenue of $22.57 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.47 million. Gladstone Land had a return on equity of 2.05% and a net margin of 16.45%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Gladstone Land Co. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Gladstone Land Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, January 27th were paid a dividend of $0.0467 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a dividend yield of 5.33%. This is a positive change from Gladstone Land's previous dividend of $0.04. Gladstone Land's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -215.38%.

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.