Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Purchases New Shares in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 10,190 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $104,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in MFA Financial by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,005,138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $139,985,000 after acquiring an additional 111,331 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,085,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,824,000 after purchasing an additional 502,840 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,579,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,700,000 after purchasing an additional 151,321 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,407,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,629,000 after purchasing an additional 21,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,835,409 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,346,000 after purchasing an additional 12,071 shares in the last quarter. 65.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MFA Financial Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of MFA Financial stock opened at $10.31 on Friday. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.36 and a 12 month high of $13.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 2.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.38.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $50.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.06 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 16.47%. Analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.59%. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is presently 172.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities cut their price objective on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com downgraded MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MFA Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.70.

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.