Inspire Investing LLC Has $403,000 Stock Position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 22.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,594 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,220 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in MFA Financial were worth $403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 35.4% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,583,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197,220 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in MFA Financial by 902.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,764,000 after buying an additional 337,142 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MFA Financial by 38.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 898,212 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,425,000 after acquiring an additional 250,535 shares in the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in MFA Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,509,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 6.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,579,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,700,000 after acquiring an additional 151,321 shares in the last quarter. 65.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MFA shares. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 target price on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities lowered their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.80.

MFA Financial Price Performance

Shares of MFA stock opened at $10.19 on Friday. MFA Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $9.36 and a one year high of $13.45. The company has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.41 and a beta of 2.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.53 and a 200-day moving average of $11.48.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.75%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is currently 88.05%.

About MFA Financial

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.