MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) Shares Gap Down to $10.95

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $10.95, but opened at $10.59. MFA Financial shares last traded at $10.77, with a volume of 219,008 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $12.50 price target on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $12.00.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average of $11.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.11 billion, a PE ratio of 27.38 and a beta of 2.10.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last released its quarterly 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. MFA Financial had a net margin of 13.24% and a return on equity of 9.44%. The business had revenue of $169.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $43.75 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that MFA Financial, Inc. will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 350.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MFA Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MFA. Delphi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in MFA Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $685,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its stake in MFA Financial by 17.7% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 10,031 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of MFA Financial by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 821,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,368,000 after purchasing an additional 57,771 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in MFA Financial by 0.8% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 698,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,975,000 after purchasing an additional 5,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in MFA Financial by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 30,658 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $350,000 after buying an additional 1,979 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.