Short Interest in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Decreases By 20.1%

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 2,675,062 shares, a drop of 20.1% from the March 31st total of 3,348,824 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,212,313 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 53.1% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,820,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,681,000 after purchasing an additional 977,820 shares during the period. Wolverine Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 1,653,062 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,390,000 after purchasing an additional 139,559 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 9.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,647,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,586,000 after purchasing an additional 139,156 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 440.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,345,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,443 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 6.7% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,286,163 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,820,000 after purchasing an additional 80,900 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

MFA Financial Stock Up 1.4%

MFA traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $10.40. 1,221,748 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,219,878. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.06 and a beta of 1.54. MFA Financial has a 1-year low of $8.78 and a 1-year high of $10.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.68.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.27. The company had revenue of $88.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.56 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 6.67% and a net margin of 23.73%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.9%. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is 111.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on MFA Financial from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.81.

MFA Financial Company Profile

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.