JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $8.60 Million Stock Position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its stake in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 21.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 844,103 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 237,122 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.83% of MFA Financial worth $8,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 6.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,579,818 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $33,700,000 after acquiring an additional 151,321 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in MFA Financial by 902.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,764,000 after buying an additional 337,142 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in MFA Financial by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,407,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $30,629,000 after buying an additional 21,331 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 6.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 448,989 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,572,000 after buying an additional 28,382 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 31.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 40,681 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $415,000 after acquiring an additional 9,836 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MFA shares. JMP Securities lowered their price target 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on MFA Financial in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $14.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MFA Financial has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $13.60.

MFA Financial Price Performance

MFA traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $8.99. 1,176,529 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 963,821. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.73. The company has a market cap of $921.18 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.61. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $50.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.06 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. On average, equities research analysts predict that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This is an increase from MFA Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 16.03%. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 177.78%.

MFA Financial Company 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.