MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $11.05.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jones Trading reissued a “hold” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $10.50 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of MFA Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th.

MFA Financial Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE MFA opened at $9.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $984.66 million, a P/E ratio of 11.07 and a beta of 1.73. The business’s 50 day moving average is $9.23 and its 200-day moving average is $9.49. MFA Financial has a 1-year low of $7.85 and a 1-year high of $11.28.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.30 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $101.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.40 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 17.62% and a return on equity of 8.61%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 14.9%. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is currently 169.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MFA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in MFA Financial by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,182,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $104,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,847 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 53.1% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,820,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,681,000 after buying an additional 977,820 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of MFA Financial by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,489,686 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $23,555,000 after buying an additional 54,944 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,647,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,586,000 after acquiring an additional 139,156 shares during the period. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 1,513,503 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,909,000 after acquiring an additional 552,517 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

About MFA Financial

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.