Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Decreases Stake in MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 66.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 45,727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 90,806 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in MFA Financial were worth $444,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MFA. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 53.1% in the second quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,820,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,681,000 after purchasing an additional 977,820 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,647,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,586,000 after buying an additional 139,156 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in MFA Financial by 57.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 1,513,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,909,000 after buying an additional 552,517 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in MFA Financial by 440.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,345,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,366,000 after buying an additional 1,096,443 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in MFA Financial by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,286,163 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,820,000 after buying an additional 80,900 shares in the last quarter. 65.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MFA shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on MFA Financial from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MFA Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.81.

MFA Financial Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MFA opened at $9.71 on Monday. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.85 and a 12-month high of $10.56. The company has a market cap of $990.78 million, a PE ratio of 7.52 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.59.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.27. MFA Financial had a net margin of 23.73% and a return on equity of 6.67%. The company had revenue of $88.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.56 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.8%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 111.63%.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc, headquartered in New York City, is a real estate investment trust that specializes in investing in residential mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities. The company’s primary objective is to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns through net interest income and capital appreciation. As a mortgage REIT, MFA Financial focuses on constructing a diversified portfolio of agency and non-agency residential mortgage assets, leveraging its expertise in acquiring, financing and servicing mortgage products.

MFA Financial’s investment portfolio encompasses a wide range of mortgage instruments, including adjustable-rate and fixed-rate mortgage loans, interest-only securities, and agency mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by government-sponsored entities.