Vanguard Group Inc. Has $91.76 Million Holdings in MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA

Vanguard Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 2.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,984,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 246,408 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.73% of MFA Financial worth $91,758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MFA Financial in the first quarter valued at about $259,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in MFA Financial by 16.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 691,408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,094,000 after acquiring an additional 96,365 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in MFA Financial during the second quarter valued at approximately $99,000. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in MFA Financial by 58.6% in the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 5,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 16,119 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $152,000 after purchasing an additional 1,772 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MFA. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on MFA Financial from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their target price on MFA Financial from $10.50 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on MFA Financial from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.81.

MFA Financial Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:MFA opened at $10.16 on Friday. MFA Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $11.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.88 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.83 and a 200-day moving average of $9.63.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 6.67% and a net margin of 23.73%.The company had revenue of $88.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.56 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 111.63%.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc, headquartered in New York City, is a real estate investment trust that specializes in investing in residential mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities. The company’s primary objective is to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through net interest income and capital appreciation. As a mortgage REIT, MFA Financial focuses on constructing a diversified portfolio of agency and non-agency residential mortgage assets, leveraging its expertise in acquiring, financing and servicing mortgage products.

MFA Financial’s investment portfolio encompasses a wide range of mortgage instruments, including adjustable-rate and fixed-rate mortgage loans, interest-only securities, and agency mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by government-sponsored entities.