LPL Financial LLC Acquires 41,638 Shares of Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND)

LPL Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND - Free Report) by 119.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 76,469 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 41,638 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned 0.21% of Gladstone Land worth $830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gladstone Land by 1.5% in the 3rd 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 during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Gladstone Land by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 795,775 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $11,061,000 after purchasing an additional 16,079 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Gladstone Land by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 201,093 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,182,000 after purchasing an additional 26,565 shares during the period. Accordant Advisory Group Inc raised its stake in shares of Gladstone Land by 66.3% in the 4th quarter. Accordant Advisory Group Inc now owns 179,355 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,946,000 after buying an additional 71,507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Southern Style Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gladstone Land in the fourth quarter valued at $1,893,000. 53.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Gladstone Land Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LAND traded up $0.10 on Friday, reaching $9.81. 185,714 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 261,172. The stock has a market capitalization of $354.97 million, a PE ratio of -33.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.74 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.70. The company's 50 day moving average is $10.46 and its 200-day moving average is $11.29. Gladstone Land Co. has a fifty-two week low of $8.66 and a fifty-two week high of $15.36.

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 the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 1.89% and a net margin of 15.59%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gladstone Land Co. will post 0.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gladstone Land Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

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

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.