LSV Asset Management Cuts Stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

LSV Asset Management lessened its stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 518,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 9,100 shares during the quarter. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in MFA Financial were worth $5,849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MFA. Capital Square LLC raised its holdings in MFA Financial by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 39,198 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 1,294 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 8.7% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 18,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $175,000 after buying an additional 1,456 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 51,100 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $491,000 after buying an additional 1,973 shares in the last quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. raised its position in MFA Financial by 47.0% in the 4th quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. now owns 6,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 2,180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in MFA Financial by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 224,075 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,153,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $12.50 price target on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MFA Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.00.

MFA Financial Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:MFA opened at $10.71 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78 and a beta of 2.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $11.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.86. MFA Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.41 and a twelve month high of $11.90.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.12. MFA Financial had a net margin of 13.24% and a return on equity of 9.44%. The business had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.75 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. Analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.07%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 350.00%.

MFA Financial Company Profile

MFA Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. It invests in residential mortgage securities, including non-agency mortgage-backed securities, agency MBS, and credit risk transfer securities; residential whole loans, including purchased performing loans, purchased credit deteriorated, and non-performing loans; and mortgage servicing rights related assets.