MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA Shares Bought by EMG Holdings L.P.

Key Points

• EMG Holdings L.P. significantly increased its stake in MFA Financial by 178.8% in the first quarter, becoming the firm's 7th largest position.
• MFA Financial recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4688 per share, reflecting an increase from its previous dividend and resulting in an 18.6% dividend yield.
• Despite a revenue of $61.28 million for the last quarter, MFA Financial missed analysts' earnings per share estimates, reporting $0.24 EPS compared to the expected $0.29.

EMG Holdings L.P. increased its position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 178.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 608,054 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 389,954 shares during the quarter. MFA Financial accounts for approximately 3.0% of EMG Holdings L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. EMG Holdings L.P. owned approximately 0.59% of MFA Financial worth $6,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 124,317 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,267,000 after buying an additional 29,584 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 84,502 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $861,000 after buying an additional 28,348 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,006,842 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $10,260,000 after buying an additional 97,945 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in MFA Financial by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,085,679 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $11,139,000 after purchasing an additional 147,498 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in MFA Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $633,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

MFA Financial stock opened at $10.0950 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.60 and a beta of 1.64. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.85 and a 52-week high of $13.45. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $9.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.76.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $61.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.50 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 17.62%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.4688 per share. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 18.6%. This is a boost from MFA Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 165.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MFA. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded shares of 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. JMP Securities decreased their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $10.00 target price on shares of MFA Financial and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Jones Trading reissued a "hold" rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" 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.

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