Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Takes Position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MFA. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 14.6% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 112,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,431,000 after purchasing an additional 14,333 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in MFA Financial by 38.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 898,212 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,425,000 after buying an additional 250,535 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in MFA Financial by 35.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,583,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $58,297,000 after acquiring an additional 1,197,220 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in MFA Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $189,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the third quarter valued at $2,509,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target 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. 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 target for the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MFA Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.70.

MFA Financial Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of MFA opened at $10.42 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.34. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.36 and a 12 month high of $13.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 2.11.

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

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 172.84%.

About MFA Financial

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.