Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 18,400 Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 693,137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,400 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in MFA Financial were worth $7,812,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. grew its position in MFA Financial by 93.5% in the 3rd quarter. Carmichael Hill & Associates Inc. now owns 4,636 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 2,240 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in MFA Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. Summit Wealth Group LLC bought a new stake in MFA Financial in the 3rd quarter worth about $96,000. EMC Capital Management boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 436.4% in the third quarter. EMC Capital Management now owns 10,727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 8,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. purchased a new position in MFA Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $152,000. 65.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $12.50 target price on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $12.00.

MFA Financial Stock Up 0.4 %

MFA opened at $10.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38 and a beta of 2.10. MFA Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.41 and a twelve month high of $11.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $11.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.81.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.75 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 13.24% and a return on equity of 9.44%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is currently 350.00%.

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.