MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Receives $12.92 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $12.92.

MFA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on MFA Financial from $12.50 to $12.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $10.00 price objective on MFA Financial and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th.

MFA Financial Price Performance

MFA opened at $9.48 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.16. MFA Financial has a 1 year low of $7.85 and a 1 year high of $13.45. The firm has a market cap of $972.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.70 and a beta of 1.69.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.04). MFA Financial had a return on equity of 9.61% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $57.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.80 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MFA Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MFA Financial by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,895,670 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,317,000 after buying an additional 60,261 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 902.9% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 374,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,764,000 after purchasing an additional 337,142 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 84,502 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $861,000 after purchasing an additional 28,348 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,223,112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,464,000 after purchasing an additional 177,067 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 10.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,006,842 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,260,000 after purchasing an additional 97,945 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.