Brokerages Set MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) PT at $13.60

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Buy" from the five research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.50.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MFA shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th. JMP Securities cut their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in MFA Financial by 3.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in MFA Financial by 902.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,764,000 after purchasing an additional 337,142 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,223,112 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $12,464,000 after acquiring an additional 177,067 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $428,000. Finally, GraniteShares Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MFA Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,484,000. 65.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MFA Financial Stock Up 1.9%

MFA stock traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.65. The company had a trading volume of 318,818 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,359,261. The stock has a market capitalization of $990.81 million, a P/E ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 1.69. MFA Financial has a one year low of $7.85 and a one year high of $13.45. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $9.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.44.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $57.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.80 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is a positive change from MFA Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.92%. MFA Financial's dividend payout ratio is 146.94%.

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.