Farmland Partners transferred with Neutral rating at B. Riley

B. Riley analyst John Massocca put a Neutral rating on Farmland Partners with a $12.50 price target following a transfer of coverage. While farmland value appreciation is a major portion of Farmland’s value proposition, something reflected in the 21c special dividend that was recently declared for shareholders, the cash flow component of the real estate investment trust’s story should not be ignored, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm sees the direct impact of interest rate increases and “stubbornly low” cap rates on farmland acquisitions as major headwinds to the company’s bottom-line growth.