Penserra Capital Management LLC Grows Stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Penserra Capital Management LLC raised its stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 13.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 124,065 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,438 shares during the quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MFA Financial were worth $1,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MFA. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in MFA Financial by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 479,690 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,888,000 after purchasing an additional 72,867 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 60,261 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $633,000. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 174,183 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,775,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 938,181 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,560,000 after acquiring an additional 39,969 shares in the last quarter. 65.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

NYSE:MFA opened at $9.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $988.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 1.63. MFA Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $13.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.94.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.04). MFA Financial had a net margin of 18.86% and a return on equity of 9.44%. The company had revenue of $57.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.95%. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is currently 146.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MFA. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $10.00 target price on MFA Financial and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Jones Trading initiated coverage on MFA Financial in a research note on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MFA Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $12.92.

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.