MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA Shares Acquired by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. significantly increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 10,897.0% in the first quarter, now owning approximately 58,944 shares valued at $605,000.
• MFA Financial reported earnings of $0.24 per share for the most recent quarter, missing analysts' estimates of $0.29, while revenue stood at $61.28 million, exceeding expectations.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.36, translating to an annualized dividend yield of 14.1%, although its dividend payout ratio is notably high at 165.52%.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 10,897.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 58,944 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 58,408 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.06% of MFA Financial worth $605,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 188,519 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,934,000 after buying an additional 14,336 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in MFA Financial in the first quarter valued at $3,183,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 23.3% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,508,456 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $15,477,000 after purchasing an additional 285,344 shares during the last quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MFA Financial by 34.3% during the first quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. now owns 94,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $964,000 after purchasing an additional 24,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AXS Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 149,890 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,538,000 after purchasing an additional 12,098 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

MFA Financial stock traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 412,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,296,715. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $9.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.74. MFA Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $7.85 and a fifty-two week high of $13.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 11.65 and a beta of 1.68.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $61.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the company earned $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts predict that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio is 165.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MFA has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $10.00 price objective on shares of MFA Financial and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Jones Trading restated a "hold" rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded MFA Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, 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 research note on Thursday, July 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MFA Financial has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.14.

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.