Bailard Inc. Takes Position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Bailard Inc. bought a new position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 43,200 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $443,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MFA. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new stake in MFA Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 823.4% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,278 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 2,923 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in MFA Financial in the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MFA Financial during the fourth quarter worth $121,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MFA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $10.00 price target on MFA Financial and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Jones Trading upgraded MFA Financial to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of MFA Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $10.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $12.07.

MFA Financial Price Performance

NYSE:MFA traded up $0.05 on Wednesday, hitting $9.47. 816,163 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,126,245. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.87. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.85 and a 52 week high of $13.45. The company has a market cap of $971.58 million, a P/E ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 1.63.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $57.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.80 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 18.86% and a return on equity of 9.44%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 15.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 146.94%.

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.