Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Cuts Stock Position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC decreased its holdings in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 190,556 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,699 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in MFA Financial were worth $1,942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 1.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,005,138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $139,985,000 after acquiring an additional 111,331 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in MFA Financial by 11.0% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 502,840 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,579,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,700,000 after purchasing an additional 151,321 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in MFA Financial by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,407,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,629,000 after purchasing an additional 21,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,895,670 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,317,000 after buying an additional 60,261 shares during the period. 65.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MFA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JMP Securities cut their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, 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 target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.70.

MFA Financial Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MFA opened at $10.59 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.17. MFA Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.36 and a twelve month high of $13.45. The company has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of 13.07 and a beta of 2.18.

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

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from MFA Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.60%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 177.78%.

MFA Financial 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.