Brokerages Set MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Price Target at $11.75

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $11.75.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MFA shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Jones Trading restated a “hold” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded MFA Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded MFA Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd.

MFA Financial Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of MFA Financial stock opened at $9.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.52. MFA Financial has a 12-month low of $7.85 and a 12-month high of $12.60. The company has a market capitalization of $937.88 million, a P/E ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.70.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.05). MFA Financial had a return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 17.62%.The company had revenue of $61.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. On average, analysts predict that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 15.8%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 165.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Penserra Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 136,695 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,256,000 after acquiring an additional 3,849 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 787,192 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,234,000 after acquiring an additional 8,305 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 203,341 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,869,000 after acquiring an additional 9,348 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 293.0% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 113,140 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,040,000 after acquiring an additional 84,351 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 1,250.7% during the 3rd quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 149,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,378,000 after acquiring an additional 138,831 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

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.