MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Stock Position Reduced by Wellington Management Group LLP

Wellington Management Group LLP decreased its stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 28.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,874,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,130,320 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 0.08% of MFA Financial worth $80,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MFA. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,085,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,824,000 after buying an additional 502,840 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 4th quarter worth $3,564,000. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 902.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,764,000 after purchasing an additional 337,142 shares during the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $2,484,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in MFA Financial by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 919,603 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,371,000 after purchasing an additional 155,210 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MFA has been the topic of several recent research reports. JMP Securities cut their target price on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MFA Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.70.

MFA Financial Stock Down 5.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MFA opened at $9.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $982.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83 and a beta of 1.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.08. MFA Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.36 and a twelve month high of $13.45.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $50.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.06 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 16.47%. Analysts anticipate that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 15.02%. This is a positive change from MFA Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.