Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Purchases Shares of 4,562 MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $46,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its holdings in MFA Financial by 35.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,583,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,297,000 after buying an additional 1,197,220 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 902.9% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,764,000 after acquiring an additional 337,142 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 38.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 898,212 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,425,000 after acquiring an additional 250,535 shares in the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC bought a new position in MFA Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $2,484,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new stake in MFA Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,509,000. 65.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MFA shares. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price target on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, MFA Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.70.

MFA Financial Price Performance

NYSE MFA opened at $10.42 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $10.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 12.86 and a beta of 2.11. MFA Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.36 and a fifty-two week high of $13.45.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $58.06 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.44%. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is currently 172.84%.

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.