Geode Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND)

Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 905,578 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,946 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.50% of Gladstone Land worth $9,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gladstone Land in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in 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. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Gladstone Land during the fourth quarter valued at $118,000. Finally, Fiduciary Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gladstone Land in the 4th quarter worth about $123,000. Institutional investors own 53.60% of the company’s stock.

Gladstone Land Stock Performance

Shares of LAND stock opened at $9.80 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $354.61 million, a PE ratio of -33.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $11.34. Gladstone Land Co. has a 52 week low of $8.66 and a 52 week high of $15.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.19. The business had revenue of $21.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.45 million. Gladstone Land had a net margin of 15.59% and a return on equity of 1.89%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Gladstone Land Co. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Gladstone Land Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 22nd will be issued a $0.0467 dividend. This represents a yield of 5.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 21st. Gladstone Land’s dividend payout ratio is -193.10%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Anthony W. Parker sold 6,601 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Gladstone Land 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.