MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Receives $13.70 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.70.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JMP Securities reduced their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th.

Institutional Trading of MFA Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 2,416.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,190 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,383,000 after buying an additional 13,626 shares in the last quarter. PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $140,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 15.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 181,431 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,849,000 after buying an additional 23,950 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in MFA Financial in the fourth quarter worth $137,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of MFA Financial by 49.0% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 28,829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 9,485 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

MFA Financial Stock Up 5.6 %

Shares of MFA stock opened at $8.63 on Friday. MFA Financial has a twelve month low of $7.85 and a twelve month high of $13.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $884.78 million, a P/E ratio of 10.65 and a beta of 1.61.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. The firm had revenue of $50.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.06 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from MFA Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 16.69%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 177.78%.

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.