MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) Earns “Market Outperform” Rating from JMP Securities

JMP Securities reaffirmed their market outperform rating on shares of MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $12.50 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

MFA Financial Price Performance

MFA opened at $10.43 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $11.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.71. The firm has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a PE ratio of 26.08 and a beta of 2.10. MFA Financial has a 1 year low of $8.41 and a 1 year high of $11.90.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The real estate investment trust reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $169.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.75 million. MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.44% and a net margin of 13.24%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.46 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MFA Financial will post 1.47 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 13.42%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 350.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MFA Financial

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in MFA Financial by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,946,143 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $95,582,000 after buying an additional 163,555 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 290,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,793,000 after purchasing an additional 96,711 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,678,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,132,000 after purchasing an additional 132,826 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,329,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,779,000 after purchasing an additional 203,681 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 34.6% during the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 68,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $775,000 after purchasing an additional 17,674 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.