Cerity Partners LLC Sells 18,081 Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Cerity Partners LLC lowered its holdings in shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 24.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,317 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 18,081 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned about 0.06% of MFA Financial worth $635,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,946,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $95,582,000 after purchasing an additional 163,555 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its position in MFA Financial by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 290,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,793,000 after buying an additional 96,711 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in MFA Financial by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,678,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,132,000 after buying an additional 132,826 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in MFA Financial by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,329,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,779,000 after buying an additional 203,681 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in MFA Financial by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 68,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $775,000 after buying an additional 17,674 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

MFA Financial Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:MFA opened at $10.76 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $11.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.75. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.41 and a 12 month high of $11.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.89 and a beta of 2.11.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million during 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 last year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.02%. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is 350.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.