MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Receives $12.07 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, 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 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.0714.

MFA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $10.00 price target on shares of MFA Financial and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of MFA Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. JMP Securities decreased 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 note on Thursday, July 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Jones Trading reissued a “hold” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Monday, August 11th.

MFA Financial Price Performance

MFA opened at $9.71 on Friday. MFA Financial has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $13.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $996.93 million, a P/E ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 1.64.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 EPS 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 company had revenue of $61.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.50 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.8%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 165.52%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MFA Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,890 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 1,134 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its holdings in MFA Financial by 62.3% in the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its holdings in MFA Financial by 9.1% in the first quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 14,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in MFA Financial by 40.7% in the second 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 period. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its holdings in MFA Financial by 6.7% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 22,150 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the period. 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.