MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) Given Market Outperform Rating at JMP Securities

JMP Securities reissued their market outperform rating on shares of MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $12.50 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

MFA Financial Price Performance

MFA opened at $10.28 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.69. The company has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 25.70 and a beta of 2.10. MFA Financial has a 1 year low of $8.41 and a 1 year high of $11.90.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.75 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.24%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MFA Financial will post 1.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.62%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 350.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MFA Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,109,396 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,770,000 after buying an additional 835,717 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,988,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,571,000 after purchasing an additional 42,419 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 8,987,615 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $89,157,000 after purchasing an additional 565,972 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 160.7% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,779,082 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $98,940,000 after purchasing an additional 5,411,692 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,951,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,956,000 after purchasing an additional 122,878 shares in the last quarter. 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.