Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,895,670 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,261 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.86% of MFA Financial worth $19,317,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings 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 valued at $139,985,000 after purchasing an additional 111,331 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in 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 valued at $51,824,000 after buying an additional 502,840 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in MFA Financial by 6.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,579,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,700,000 after buying an additional 151,321 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in MFA Financial by 0.9% during the third 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 buying an additional 21,331 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in MFA Financial by 2.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,081,225 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,753,000 after buying an additional 23,852 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

MFA Financial Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MFA opened at $10.96 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.54 and a beta of 2.18. MFA Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $9.36 and a twelve month high of $13.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $10.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.23.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last issued its 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). The business had revenue of $50.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $58.06 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 16.47%. Analysts anticipate that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.13%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from MFA Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 177.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MFA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. JMP Securities reduced their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.70.

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.