MFA Mortgage (NYSE: MFA) had a good trading session yesterday. A cool thing, since it's well off its recent highs. The stock closed yesterday at $7.01, having risen over 11%. What was the catalyst? Well, some bullish commentary from an analyst certainly helped out, but, for my money, the bigger news was the increase in the dividend. MFA announced a Q1 payout of $0.18 per share, which is 24% higher than the previous quarter's dividend.

This is exactly what I want to see. I'm figuring that, over time, MFA will be able to make more increases to its dividend as it benefits from further rate cuts by the Fed. Granted, MFA did choose to reduce its leverage profile, as I mentioned in a recent post. Nevertheless, this dividend increase, in my opinion, shows that this particular mREIT is a cut above many and worth holding for now. It's going to be a volatile ride, and I expect some profit-taking based on yesterday's action, especially considering the fact that the volume of shares traded wasn't overly high.

Two of my other mREIT investments, Newcastle Investment (NYSE: NCT) and CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE), also fared well in yesterday's session. Another mortgage entity I'm keeping my eye on, Annaly Mortgage (NYSE: NLY), had a good day as well. Let's hope the financials are finally stabling -- granted, many financials, such as MFA, are way off their 52-week highs, but I have to say, I liked the way the second quarter started, and I certainly enjoyed MFA's dividend change.

Disclosure: I own shares of MFA, MFA preferred, CapitalSource, and Newcastle Investment; positions can change at any time.

MFA Mortgage hiked its dividend (and shareholders' spirits) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 10:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been a vicious down market in financials. Hey, I know of what I speak -- I own CapitalSource (NYSE: CSE), Newcastle Investment (NYSE: NCT) and MFA Mortgage (NYSE: MFA) in my portfolio. I've previously discussed how my investments have been left wounded and bloody at the claws of the angry bears that have been running rabid-crazy on Wall Street as of late.

But -- is it me, or do things feel a little better? Has the price action on the major market indexes put you in a better mood? Of course, I'm writing this before the market opens, so sentiment can change on a moment's notice, but still, it's worth noting that investors must study those beaten-down stocks that have a great brand history behind them and that one assumes will still be around years from now. Citigroup (NYSE: C) is a stock I've been thinking about the last couple days, especially after JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) found itself raising its bid for Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC). What I find somewhat appealing about Citi's stock is its 52-week range -- the low point was a share price of $17.99, while the high point was north of $55 per stub. No, I don't think Citi will rocket back to the high end of that range anytime soon, but I like that it has bounced off the low. As of yesterday's close, Citi was valued at $23.42.

Naturally, I'm trying to figure out if that $17.99 is the final low. I think it just might be, but I want to wait to see if Citi can go higher from here before deciding whether or not to enter. It would be hard to believe that Citi isn't going to be higher a few months from now than where it is trading at currently, especially considering its post-dividend-cut-yield. But I think the market is still capable of volatile swings even though, as I've stated, my mood has improved. Bottom line: Citi isn't far enough away from its low for me to enter right now. I guess those financials that I already own have got me thinking twice about this Dow stock.

Disclosure: I own shares in CapitalSource, Newcastle Investment, MFA common stock, and MFA preferred stock; positions can change at any time.

Is Citigroup appealing right now? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.