MFA Financial, Inc. is a publicly traded mortgage real estate investment trust and specialty finance company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MFA. Incorporated in 1997 and headquartered at One Vanderbilt Avenue in New York City, the company focuses on residential mortgage credit and related real ...MFA Financial, Inc. is a publicly traded mortgage real estate investment trust and specialty finance company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol MFA. Incorporated in 1997 and headquartered at One Vanderbilt Avenue in New York City, the company focuses on residential mortgage credit and related real estate finance activities rather than owning and operating conventional commercial properties. Its investment strategy has evolved from a securities-heavy mortgage REIT model toward a broader platform centered on residential credit, whole loans, mortgage-backed securities, and related servicing assets.
MFA invests in several categories of residential mortgage assets. These include agency mortgage-backed securities, which carry guarantees from government-sponsored enterprises or government agencies; non-agency securities, which have greater exposure to borrower credit performance; credit risk transfer securities; and residential whole loans. Whole-loan investments may include performing loans, credit-deteriorated loans, and non-performing loans. The company also has exposure to assets associated with mortgage servicing rights. Through Lima One Capital, MFA originates and services business-purpose loans, primarily for real estate investors. These products may support activities such as acquiring, renovating, refinancing, or renting residential investment properties.
The business is financially sensitive to interest rates, mortgage spreads, housing-market conditions, prepayments, delinquencies, loss severities, financing availability, and broader capital-market liquidity. Because mortgage REITs commonly use leverage to increase returns on investment assets, changes in borrowing costs and asset values can materially affect earnings, book value, liquidity, and dividend capacity. The supplied trailing data shows approximately $942 million in market capitalization, a book value per share of about $17.13, a price-to-book ratio near 0.54, and a reported annual dividend of $1.44 per share. The indicated dividend yield was approximately 15.6%, although dividend yields and distributions can change and should not be interpreted as guaranteed returns. The reported debt-to-assets ratio was approximately 85.4%, reflecting the leveraged nature of the business, while return on equity was approximately 8.2% for the referenced trailing period.
As a REIT, MFA generally must distribute at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders to maintain its federal income-tax treatment. This structure can make dividend policy an important part of the investment proposition, but distributions depend on taxable income, portfolio performance, financing conditions, and board approval. MFA reported 307 full-time employees in the supplied information, placing it in the 201-500 employee category. Craig L. Knutson has served as a director and chief executive officer since August 2017. Overall, MFA combines mortgage-asset investing, residential credit management, and loan origination and servicing, with performance driven by portfolio construction, leverage management, credit outcomes, interest-rate movements, and access to funding markets.
Operator: Greetings. Welcome to the MFA Financial, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to Hal Schwartz, General Counsel at MFA Financial. Thank you. Hal, you may begin.
Harold Schwartz: Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. The information discussed on this conference call today may contain or refer to forward-looking statements regarding MFA Financial, Inc., which reflect management's beliefs, expectations and assumptions as to MFA's future performance and operations. When used, statements that are not historical in nature, including those containing words such as will, believe, expect, anticipate, estimate, should, could, would or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made. These types of statements are subject to various known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, including those described in MFA's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and other reports that it may file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause MFA's actual results to differ materially from those projected, expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements it makes. For additional information regarding MFA's use of forward-looking statements, please see the relevant disclosure in the press release announcing MFA's second quarter 2026 financial results. Thank you for your time. I would now like to turn this call over to MFA's CEO, Craig Knutson.
Craig Knutson: Thank you, Hal. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for MFA Financial's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. With me today are Bryan Wulfsohn, our President and Chief Investment Officer; Mike Roper, our Chief Financial Officer; and other members of our senior management team. I will offer some general remarks on the macroeconomic and political landscapes and will then provide an update on MFA's business initiatives and portfolio activities. I'll then turn the call over to Mike, followed by Bryan before we open up the call for questions. Moving to market conditions. We entered April with markets still absorbing the geopolitical shock that ended the first quarter. After ending March at $118 per barrel, oil traded below $100 per barrel for much of April before spiking back to $118 at the end of April and then trading lower over the last 2 months of the quarter, closing out just below $73 per barrel at the end of June. In the rates market, while volatility dampened considerably, rates themselves rose modestly higher during the quarter. The MOVE index closed out the first quarter around 100, but was in the mid-60s by the middle of April, spiked briefly in mid-May and then closed the quarter in the low 70s. The curve …