MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Receives $13.60 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $13.60.

Several brokerages have recently commented on MFA. StockNews.com downgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities lifted their price objective on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $13.50 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on MFA Financial from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $13.00 to $14.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th.

MFA Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of MFA opened at $11.11 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 2.16. MFA Financial has a twelve month low of $10.20 and a twelve month high of $13.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.58.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 27th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 27th. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is presently 88.05%.

Institutional Trading of MFA Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MFA. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in MFA Financial by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,005,138 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $139,985,000 after acquiring an additional 111,331 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 35.4% during the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 4,583,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,297,000 after purchasing an additional 1,197,220 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MFA Financial by 6.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,579,818 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $33,700,000 after purchasing an additional 151,321 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,407,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,629,000 after purchasing an additional 21,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MFA Financial by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,835,409 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $23,346,000 after purchasing an additional 12,071 shares in the last quarter. 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.