Northern Trust Corp Boosts Holdings in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 10.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,006,842 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 97,945 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.99% of MFA Financial worth $10,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in MFA Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in MFA Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $217,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in MFA Financial by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 93,754 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $956,000 after buying an additional 6,556 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in MFA Financial by 186.9% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 15,442 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $157,000 after buying an additional 10,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in MFA Financial by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 59,597 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $607,000 after buying an additional 2,328 shares in the last quarter. 65.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MFA Financial Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE MFA traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $9.34. The company had a trading volume of 853,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,032,407. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.30. The stock has a market cap of $958.27 million, a P/E ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 1.69. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.85 and a 52-week 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $57.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $48.80 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 15.43%. This is an increase from MFA Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 146.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $13.50.

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.