MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) has been given a consensus rating of “Buy” by the five brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.70.

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JMP Securities lowered their price target on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. StockNews.com cut MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price target for the company. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday.

MFA Financial Trading Up 0.3 %

MFA Financial stock opened at $10.36 on Friday. MFA Financial has a 1 year low of $9.36 and a 1 year high of $13.45. The company has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 6.51 and a beta of 2.11. The company’s 50-day moving average is $10.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.38.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $50.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.06 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 28.38% and a return on equity of 9.97%. Research analysts forecast that MFA Financial will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.52%. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is 88.05%.

Institutional Trading of MFA Financial

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,325,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 35.4% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 1,197,220 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 531.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 794,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,095,000 after acquiring an additional 668,618 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,564,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 902.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,764,000 after acquiring an additional 337,142 shares in the last quarter. 65.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MFA Financial Company 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.