Two Sigma Investments LP Lowers Position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Two Sigma Investments LP decreased its stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 54.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 404,779 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 477,965 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP owned approximately 0.40% of MFA Financial worth $4,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MFA. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in MFA Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $18,325,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 531.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 794,394 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,095,000 after acquiring an additional 668,618 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,085,927 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $51,824,000 after acquiring an additional 502,840 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MFA Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,564,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 902.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,764,000 after acquiring an additional 337,142 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MFA shares. 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 report on Wednesday, May 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report 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, JMP Securities lowered their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. 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 MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $12.92.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

MFA Financial stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Monday, reaching $9.23. The company had a trading volume of 958,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,041,764. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.85 and a 12-month high of $13.45. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $9.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $946.97 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.39 and a beta of 1.69.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.04). MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. The company had revenue of $57.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $48.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share 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 issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.61%. This is an increase from MFA Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. MFA Financial's payout ratio is presently 146.94%.

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.