MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Declares $0.36 Quarterly Dividend

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 12th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of 0.36 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.77%.

MFA Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 104.3% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments.

MFA Financial Stock Up 1.1%

MFA Financial stock traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $9.75. 1,281,869 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,055,038. MFA Financial has a 12-month low of $7.85 and a 12-month high of $13.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.11. The company has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.04 and a beta of 1.66.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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). MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $57.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.80 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MFA Financial will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in MFA Financial stock. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA - Free Report) by 16.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 691,408 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 96,365 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned about 0.67% of MFA Financial worth $7,094,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 65.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on MFA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $10.00 price objective on shares of MFA Financial and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.92.

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.