MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) Stock Rating Lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities researchers at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Finviz reports. They presently have a $10.00 target price on the real estate investment trust's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective would indicate a potential upside of 3.41% from the stock's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $10.00 target price on MFA Financial and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen cut MFA Financial from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Jones Trading raised MFA Financial to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, JMP Securities decreased their target price on 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $12.58.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

MFA stock opened at $9.67 on Thursday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $9.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $992.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.87 and a beta of 1.63. MFA Financial has a fifty-two week low of $7.85 and a fifty-two week high of $13.45.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.04). MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 18.86%. The firm had revenue of $57.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.80 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of MFA Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $18,325,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in MFA Financial by 18.6% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 6,030,535 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $61,874,000 after purchasing an additional 944,608 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in MFA Financial by 531.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 794,394 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,095,000 after purchasing an additional 668,618 shares during the period. EMG Holdings L.P. increased its stake in MFA Financial by 178.8% in the first quarter. EMG Holdings L.P. now owns 608,054 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $6,239,000 after purchasing an additional 389,954 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MFA Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,564,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.28% of the company's stock.

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.

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