MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) Rating Lowered to Sell at Wall Street Zen

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

MFA has been the topic of several other reports. Jones Trading restated a “hold” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Monday, August 11th. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of MFA Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $12.00 to $10.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MFA Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $11.75.

MFA Financial Price Performance

NYSE:MFA opened at $9.06 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.52. MFA Financial has a 1-year low of $7.85 and a 1-year high of $12.60. The firm has a market cap of $929.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.41 and a beta of 1.70.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.05). MFA Financial had a net margin of 17.62% and a return on equity of 8.61%. The firm had revenue of $61.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that MFA Financial will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 1,149 shares in the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 1,199 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 1,250 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 1,392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in MFA Financial by 23.9% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 1,417 shares in the last quarter. 65.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.