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

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA – Get Rating) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $19.00.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MFA shares. JMP Securities decreased their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Zacks Investment Research cut MFA Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 3rd.

Shares of NYSE MFA opened at $14.25 on Friday. MFA Financial has a 52 week low of $13.11 and a 52 week high of $19.60. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $15.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.26. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.48 and a beta of 1.63.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $70.15 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.57 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 95.85% and a return on equity of 11.16%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 82.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MFA Financial will post 2 earnings per share for the current year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 22nd were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 21st. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is 67.69%.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in MFA Financial by 10.6% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 150,266 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $686,000 after buying an additional 14,428 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 167.2% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 308,119 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 192,825 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in MFA Financial during the third quarter worth about $77,000. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in MFA Financial by 2.4% during the third quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,245,900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,403,000 after purchasing an additional 98,000 shares during the period. Finally, Transcend Wealth Collective LLC acquired a new position in MFA Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $114,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.54% of the company’s stock.

MFA Financial Company Profile (Get Rating)

MFA Financial, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) in the United States. The company invests in residential mortgage assets, including non-agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS), 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.

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