State Street Corp Buys 151,321 Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

State Street Corp increased its stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,579,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 151,321 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 2.53% of MFA Financial worth $33,700,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MFA. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Future Financial Wealth Managment LLC acquired a new stake in MFA Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Castleview Partners LLC bought a new stake in MFA Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $79,000. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in MFA Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $189,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $329,000. 65.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MFA shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James increased their target price on MFA Financial from $13.00 to $14.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $13.50 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.00.

MFA Financial Price Performance

Shares of MFA opened at $10.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.58. MFA Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $10.09 and a one year high of $13.45. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 2.11.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.47%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 88.05%.

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.