Gladstone Land Co. (LAND) to Issue Monthly Dividend of $0.05 on April 30th

Gladstone Land Co. (NASDAQ:LAND) declared a monthly dividend on Tuesday, April 9th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 19th will be given a dividend of 0.0466 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.51%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 18th.

Gladstone Land has increased its dividend by an average of 1.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 10 consecutive years. Gladstone Land has a payout ratio of -193.1% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Gladstone Land to earn $0.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 80.0%.

Gladstone Land Price Performance

LAND traded down $0.02 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $12.40. 127,808 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 208,334. Gladstone Land has a 1 year low of $12.37 and a 1 year high of $17.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.80 and a current ratio of 1.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $13.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.81.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gladstone Land

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Gladstone Land during the 1st quarter worth approximately $14,825,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Gladstone Land by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,569,756 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,810,000 after buying an additional 230,021 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gladstone Land by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,353,943 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $122,151,000 after buying an additional 198,148 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gladstone Land by 491.0% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 235,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,212,000 after buying an additional 195,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Gladstone Land by 29.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 681,071 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,603,000 after buying an additional 156,259 shares in the last quarter. 53.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Gladstone Land

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.