Beach Point Capital Management LP Sells 268,490 Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Beach Point Capital Management LP lowered its position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) by 39.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 408,314 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 268,490 shares during the quarter. MFA Financial comprises 1.9% of Beach Point Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Beach Point Capital Management LP owned approximately 0.40% of MFA Financial worth $4,589,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MFA. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 9.0% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,109,396 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,770,000 after acquiring an additional 835,717 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in MFA Financial by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,987,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $89,157,000 after purchasing an additional 565,972 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 1,376.1% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,024,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,683,900 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in MFA Financial by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,951,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,956,000 after buying an additional 122,878 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in MFA Financial by 356.0% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,722,041 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,970,000 after buying an additional 2,125,041 shares in the last quarter. 57.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JMP Securities cut their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $14.00 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Monday, August 28th. Wedbush began coverage on MFA Financial in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MFA Financial has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.00.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

MFA remained flat at $10.41 during trading on Friday. The company had a trading volume of 722,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,162,534. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $9.61 and its 200-day moving average is $10.46. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.41 and a 1-year high of $12.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of -27.39 and a beta of 1.99.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 2nd were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 29th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.45%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -368.42%.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust in the United States. The company invests in residential mortgage assets, 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.