MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA Stock Sold by Simplify Asset Management Inc.

Simplify Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 60.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,773 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 101,973 shares during the period. Simplify Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MFA Financial were worth $516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in MFA Financial by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,459,988 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $91,667,000 after buying an additional 271,707 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,576,990 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,869,000 after acquiring an additional 145,992 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 245.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 777,025 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,444,000 after acquiring an additional 551,927 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 537,991 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,213,000 after acquiring an additional 3,960 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,589,000. 65.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MFA Financial Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of MFA opened at $6.79 on Thursday. MFA Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.38 and a twelve month high of $10.43. The company has a market cap of $685.90 million, a P/E ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.22.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 5th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 21.2%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 144.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MFA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citizens Jmp decreased their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $10.00 price objective on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $9.50 target price (down from $10.50) on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.79.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc (NYSE: MFA) is a real estate investment trust and specialty finance company focused on residential mortgage assets. The company invests in a range of mortgage-related investments, including agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, residential whole loans, mortgage servicing rights and other assets associated with the U.S. housing finance market.

MFA Financial generally seeks to generate income from its investment portfolio through interest payments, servicing-related income and other returns associated with residential mortgage credit.