Deutsche Bank AG Buys 28,348 Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 50.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 84,502 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 28,348 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 0.08% of MFA Financial worth $861,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,085,927 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $51,824,000 after purchasing an additional 502,840 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,895,670 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $19,317,000 after purchasing an additional 60,261 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in MFA Financial in the fourth quarter worth $18,325,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,223,112 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $12,464,000 after purchasing an additional 177,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in 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 worth $10,260,000 after purchasing an additional 97,945 shares in the last quarter. 65.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MFA Financial Price Performance

Shares of MFA Financial stock traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $9.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 390,894 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,036,097. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $7.85 and a 12 month high of $13.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.54 and a 200 day moving average of $10.23. The company has a market capitalization of $961.35 million, a PE ratio of 11.56 and a beta of 1.69.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.80 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 16.47%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from MFA Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 15.38%. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 146.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on MFA. Wall Street Zen lowered MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. JMP Securities cut their price target on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $10.00 target price on MFA Financial and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $12.92.

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.