Teacher Retirement System of Texas Increases Stock Position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 77.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 188,015 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,039 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.18% of MFA Financial worth $1,916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 11.0% during the 4th 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 purchasing an additional 502,840 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 902.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,764,000 after buying an additional 337,142 shares during the period. GraniteShares Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,484,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in MFA Financial by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 919,603 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,371,000 after acquiring an additional 155,210 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in MFA Financial by 6.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 151,321 shares in the last quarter. 65.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $13.70.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

Shares of MFA opened at $10.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.18. MFA Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.36 and a fifty-two week high of $13.45. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 2.18.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $50.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.06 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 16.47%. Equities research analysts predict that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from MFA Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.40%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 177.78%.

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.