Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Stock Position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 5.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 507,580 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 27,890 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.49% of MFA Financial worth $5,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Motiv8 Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 18.9% in the first quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 14,433 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 2,290 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MFA Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $589,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MFA Financial in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 6.2% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 35,771 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $367,000 after acquiring an additional 2,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 18.6% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 6,030,535 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $61,874,000 after acquiring an additional 944,608 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.28% of the company's stock.

MFA Financial Trading Down 0.7%

MFA stock traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $9.41. 1,007,766 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,143,403. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $965.94 million, a PE ratio of 9.60 and a beta of 1.63. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $7.85 and a 1-year high of $13.45.

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

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 15.30%. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 146.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MFA shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded MFA Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $10.00 target price on MFA Financial and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Jones Trading raised MFA Financial to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. JMP Securities cut their price target on MFA Financial from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on MFA Financial from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.07.

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.