MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• MFA Financial, Inc. receives a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from eight ratings firms, with an average 1-year price target of $12.0714.
• The company's stock has seen a slight decline, trading at $9.71, with a 12-month range between $7.85 and $13.45.
• MFA recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.36, which corresponds to an annualized yield of 14.8% despite a high payout ratio of 165.52%.

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eight ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $12.0714.

A number of analysts have weighed in on MFA shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $10.00 price target on MFA Financial and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of MFA Financial from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $10.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Jones Trading reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $9.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th.

Institutional Trading of MFA Financial

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MFA. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 10.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,134 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 62.3% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 9.1% during the first quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 14,347 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 40.7% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,321 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 6.7% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 22,150 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $210,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

MFA Financial Trading Up 1.8%

NYSE:MFA traded up $0.1750 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $9.7650. The company's stock had a trading volume of 400,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,320,319. MFA Financial has a fifty-two week low of $7.85 and a fifty-two week high of $13.45. The company has a market capitalization of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 1.64. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.46 and a 200-day moving average of $9.78.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 17.62%.The company had revenue of $61.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MFA Financial will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.7%. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 165.52%.

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.