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

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $11.05.

MFA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $10.50 to $10.25 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Monday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MFA Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MFA. Quarry LP bought a new position in MFA Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 62.3% in the 2nd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of MFA Financial by 540.5% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 5,925 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the period. 65.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MFA Financial Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of MFA Financial stock opened at $9.63 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $983.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.32 and a beta of 1.61. MFA Financial has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $11.08. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.49.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by ($0.10). MFA Financial had a net margin of 17.51% and a return on equity of 7.26%. The company had revenue of $101.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $57.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that MFA Financial will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is 169.41%.

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.