Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Invests $342,000 in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 33,525 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,895,670 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $19,317,000 after purchasing an additional 60,261 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in MFA Financial by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,223,112 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $12,464,000 after buying an additional 177,067 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MFA Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $428,000. Finally, GraniteShares Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,484,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MFA shares. StockNews.com cut MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, JMP Securities cut their price target on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $13.50.

MFA Financial Price Performance

MFA traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $9.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 768,944 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,025,024. MFA Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.85 and a fifty-two week high of $13.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 12.13 and a beta of 1.69. The business's 50-day moving average is $9.76 and its 200-day moving average is $10.35.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.04). MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. The business had revenue of $57.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. Analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from MFA Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.66%. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio is currently 146.94%.

MFA Financial 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.