MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $11.75.

A number of analysts have weighed in on MFA shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded MFA Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded MFA Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $12.00 to $10.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Jones Trading reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Monday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their price target on MFA Financial from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th.

MFA Financial Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE MFA opened at $9.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $932.76 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.44 and a beta of 1.70. MFA Financial has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $12.75. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.51.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $61.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.50 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 17.62% and a return on equity of 8.61%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that MFA Financial will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MFA Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,182,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $104,470,000 after purchasing an additional 70,847 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 53.1% during the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,820,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,681,000 after purchasing an additional 977,820 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,489,686 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,555,000 after purchasing an additional 54,944 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 139,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wolverine Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 552,517 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

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.