Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Sells 200,710 Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lessened its holdings in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 73.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 71,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 200,710 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in MFA Financial were worth $687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in MFA Financial by 62.3% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 86.1% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,530 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of MFA Financial by 540.5% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,925 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in MFA Financial by 23.9% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,417 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MFA. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MFA Financial from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. BTIG Research upgraded MFA Financial from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $10.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on MFA Financial from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Citizens Jmp increased their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $11.00 to $11.50 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $11.00 to $10.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.45.

MFA Financial Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of MFA stock opened at $9.41 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $956.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.82 and a beta of 1.41. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $9.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.74. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.78 and a 12 month high of $10.56.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.31 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $43.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.52 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 17.80% and a return on equity of 6.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.29 EPS.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 15.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 165.52%.

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.