MFA Financial, Inc. $MFA Stock Holdings Lowered by Simplify Asset Management Inc.

Simplify Asset Management Inc. cut its stake in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 60.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund 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 institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in MFA Financial by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 12.8% in the third quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 16,067 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 15.5% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 80,469 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $632,000 after purchasing an additional 10,799 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in MFA Financial by 76.4% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 79,716 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 34,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in MFA Financial by 6.0% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,576,990 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,869,000 after purchasing an additional 145,992 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

MFA Financial Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of MFA stock opened at $6.79 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $7.90 and its 200 day moving average is $9.22. The firm has a market cap of $685.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 1.45. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.38 and a 52-week high of $10.43.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is currently 144.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MFA. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $10.00 price objective on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Thursday, August 20th. Weiss Ratings cut MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. William Blair set a $11.00 price target on MFA Financial in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $9.50 price target (down from $10.50) on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.