Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Has $18.45 Million Stake in MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA

Key Points

• Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. has reduced its stake in MFA Financial, Inc. by 5.1%, now holding approximately 1.75% of the company with an investment worth $18.4 million.
• MFA Financial recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.4688 per share, representing an annualized yield of 18.6%, an increase from the previous dividend of $0.36.
• Despite missing earnings estimates with $0.24 EPS, MFA Financial saw a revenue of $61.28 million for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,798,605 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 97,065 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.75% of MFA Financial worth $18,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MFA. AXS Investments LLC grew its stake in MFA Financial by 8.8% in the first quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 149,890 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,538,000 after acquiring an additional 12,098 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in MFA Financial by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,182,250 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $104,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,847 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in MFA Financial by 15,651.0% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 15,751 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $162,000 after buying an additional 15,651 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 15.7% in the first quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,085,679 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $11,139,000 after buying an additional 147,498 shares during the period. Finally, LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of MFA Financial by 27.9% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 297,873 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,056,000 after acquiring an additional 65,058 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group boosted 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. 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 reduced 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 research note on Thursday, July 17th. Jones Trading reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, May 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.07.

MFA Financial Trading Down 0.4%

MFA Financial stock traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $10.04. 469,119 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,308,884. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.76. The company has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.53 and a beta of 1.64. MFA Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $13.45.

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

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be given a dividend of $0.4688 per share. This is a positive change from MFA Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 18.7%. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 165.52%.

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.