Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $428,000 in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 42,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,005,138 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $139,985,000 after purchasing an additional 111,331 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its position in MFA Financial by 35.4% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,583,087 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $58,297,000 after buying an additional 1,197,220 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 151,321 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,407,455 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $30,629,000 after buying an additional 21,331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,835,409 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $23,346,000 after acquiring an additional 12,071 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MFA. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated 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. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.80.

MFA Financial Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of MFA stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $10.50. The stock had a trading volume of 410,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 937,441. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $10.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $11.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a PE ratio of 6.60 and a beta of 2.11. MFA Financial, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.36 and a 12 month high of $13.45.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. MFA Financial's payout ratio is 88.05%.

MFA Financial Profile

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.