VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Invests $1 Million in MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 106,017 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $1,003,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned about 0.10% of MFA Financial at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial in the second quarter worth about $28,000. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 40.7% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,321 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MFA Financial in the second quarter worth about $96,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC purchased a new stake in MFA Financial in the first quarter worth about $131,000. 65.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of MFA Financial from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Jones Trading reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of MFA Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $11.75.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

MFA stock opened at $9.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $934.81 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 1.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.49. MFA Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $12.75.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $61.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $59.50 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 17.62% and a return on equity of 8.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 165.52%.

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.

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