Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. Grows Stock Holdings in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 18.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,030,535 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 944,608 shares during the quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. owned about 5.88% of MFA Financial worth $61,874,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 3.3% during 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. purchased a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $18,325,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,571,831 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $16,017,000 after purchasing an additional 68,846 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 16.9% during 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 grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 10.8% during 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

MFA Financial Stock Performance

MFA traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $9.63. The stock had a trading volume of 1,257,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,058,806. The company has a market cap of $988.04 million, a P/E ratio of 11.88 and a beta of 1.66. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.38 and a 200 day moving average of $10.09. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 1 year low of $7.85 and a 1 year high of $13.45.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $57.54 million for 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 company posted $0.35 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.96%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. MFA Financial's payout ratio is 146.94%.

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.