Nuveen Asset Management LLC Sells 671,748 Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 68.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 315,193 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 671,748 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.31% of MFA Financial worth $3,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 823.4% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,278 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 2,923 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of MFA Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of MFA Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MFA shares. JMP Securities cut 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 note on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut 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 note on Thursday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $10.00 price target on shares of MFA Financial and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two investment 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.com, MFA Financial has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.92.

MFA Financial Price Performance

NYSE MFA traded up $0.01 on Thursday, hitting $9.48. 859,294 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,048,109. The company's 50 day moving average price is $9.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $972.64 million, a P/E ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 1.69. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $57.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.80 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

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.