Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 163,555 Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,946,143 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 163,555 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.76% of MFA Financial worth $95,582,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MFA. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 55.6% in the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 1,131,213 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $9,823,000 after purchasing an additional 404,416 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in MFA Financial by 11.5% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 27,712 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $447,000 after buying an additional 2,859 shares in the last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in MFA Financial by 6.4% during the first quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 905,700 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,650,000 after buying an additional 54,553 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in MFA Financial during the first quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of MFA Financial by 113.6% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,127,278 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,573,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of MFA Financial from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $11.25 to $12.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.00.

MFA Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of MFA traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $11.03. 467,736 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 800,676. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.65. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.41 and a 12-month high of $11.90. The firm has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.56 and a beta of 2.10.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.75 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 13.24% and a return on equity of 9.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.46 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.70%. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 350.00%.

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.