Analysts Set MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) PT at $12.92

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $12.92.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on MFA shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. JMP Securities reduced their price objective on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $10.00 price target on MFA Financial and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th.

Institutional Trading of MFA Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MFA. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 902.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,764,000 after buying an additional 337,142 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 31.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 40,681 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 9,836 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in MFA Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $135,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in MFA Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $104,000. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,085,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $51,824,000 after purchasing an additional 502,840 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

MFA Financial Trading Up 0.6%

MFA stock opened at $9.54 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $9.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.14. MFA Financial has a 1-year low of $7.85 and a 1-year high of $13.45. The firm has a market cap of $978.80 million, a PE ratio of 11.77 and a beta of 1.66.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.04). MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. The firm had revenue of $57.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.80 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that MFA Financial will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

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.