MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Stock Has Consensus Price Target of $9.79

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the seven ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $9.79.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MFA shares. William Blair set a $11.00 price target on MFA Financial in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Thursday, October 15th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $9.50 price objective (down from $10.50) on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Citizens Jmp decreased their price target on MFA Financial from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $10.00 price target on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, August 20th.

MFA Financial Stock Down 4.9%

Shares of MFA Financial stock opened at $6.23 on Friday. MFA Financial has a 52-week low of $6.21 and a 52-week high of $10.43. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $7.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.11. The firm has a market cap of $629.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.53 and a beta of 1.51.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of ($84.47) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.52 million. MFA Financial had a positive return on equity of 9.82% and a negative net margin of 1.48%.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, October 5th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 23.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 5th. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is presently -266.67%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MFA Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 122,620 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 5,802 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC acquired a new stake in MFA Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $83,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 6.8% in the third quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 125,117 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 11.1% during the third quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. raised its position in shares of MFA Financial by 12.8% during the third quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 16,067 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,823 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.28% of the company’s stock.

About MFA Financial

MFA Financial, Inc (NYSE: MFA) is a real estate investment trust and specialty finance company focused on residential mortgage assets. The company invests in a range of mortgage-related investments, including agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities, residential whole loans, mortgage servicing rights and other assets associated with the U.S. housing finance market.

MFA Financial generally seeks to generate income from its investment portfolio through interest payments, servicing-related income and other returns associated with residential mortgage credit.