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

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $11.75.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MFA. Wall Street Zen raised shares of MFA Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. JMP Securities dropped their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Saturday. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of MFA Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MFA Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 62.3% during the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 1,149 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 40.7% during the 2nd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,321 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 58.6% during the 2nd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 5,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 2,139 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MFA opened at $9.09 on Wednesday. MFA Financial has a fifty-two week low of $7.85 and a fifty-two week high of $12.75. The stock has a market cap of $932.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 1.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.51.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.05). MFA Financial had a net margin of 17.62% and a return on equity of 8.61%. The business had revenue of $61.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.9%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 165.52%.

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.