Caxton Associates LP Decreases Stock Holdings in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Caxton Associates LP lowered its position in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,427 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 8,108 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LP owned about 0.08% of MFA Financial worth $881,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 11.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 502,840 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 3.3% during the fourth 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. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in MFA Financial in the fourth quarter worth $18,325,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in MFA Financial by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,223,112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,464,000 after acquiring an additional 177,067 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in MFA Financial by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,081,225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,753,000 after purchasing an additional 23,852 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MFA shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, JMP Securities lowered their target price on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.60.

MFA Financial Stock Down 5.2 %

Shares of MFA opened at $9.39 on Wednesday. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $7.85 and a 52 week high of $13.45. The stock has a market cap of $963.91 million, a P/E ratio of 11.59 and a beta of 1.69. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $9.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.51.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $57.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $48.80 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 16.47%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.36 dividend. This is a positive change from MFA Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 15.34%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.