MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) has been assigned an average rating of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $13.70.

Several brokerages recently commented on MFA. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price objective on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 target price on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reduced their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

Shares of MFA stock opened at $10.58 on Friday. MFA Financial has a 52 week low of $9.36 and a 52 week high of $13.45. The company has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06 and a beta of 2.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.36.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.40 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $50.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.06 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. Sell-side analysts forecast that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is currently 172.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of MFA Financial by 1.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,005,138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $139,985,000 after purchasing an additional 111,331 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its stake in MFA Financial by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 5,085,927 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $51,824,000 after purchasing an additional 502,840 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in MFA Financial by 6.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,579,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,700,000 after buying an additional 151,321 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,407,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,629,000 after purchasing an additional 21,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in MFA Financial by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,895,670 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,317,000 after buying an additional 60,261 shares during the period. 65.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.