MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA Shares Acquired by Wolverine Asset Management LLC

Wolverine Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 57.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,513,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 552,517 shares during the quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC owned about 1.47% of MFA Financial worth $13,909,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 53.1% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,820,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,681,000 after buying an additional 977,820 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in MFA Financial by 152.8% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,022,065 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,669,000 after acquiring an additional 617,759 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 9.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,647,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,586,000 after acquiring an additional 139,156 shares in the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the second quarter worth about $1,003,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of MFA Financial by 102.8% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 204,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,930,000 after purchasing an additional 103,427 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

MFA Financial Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of MFA stock opened at $9.92 on Friday. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $7.85 and a 52-week high of $11.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $9.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a PE ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 1.60.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.10). MFA Financial had a net margin of 17.51% and a return on equity of 7.26%. The company had revenue of $101.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. Analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 169.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MFA shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MFA Financial from $10.50 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MFA Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.31.

MFA Financial Company Profile

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.