MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Wall Street Brokerages

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

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citizens Jmp reduced their price target on shares of MFA Financial from $11.00 to $8.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. William Blair set a $11.00 price objective on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $9.50 target price (down from $10.50) on shares of MFA Financial in a report on Tuesday, October 6th.

Institutional Trading of MFA Financial

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of MFA Financial by 245.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 777,025 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,444,000 after buying an additional 551,927 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,589,000. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in MFA Financial by 3.0% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,459,988 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $91,667,000 after purchasing an additional 271,707 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in MFA Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,676,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new position in MFA Financial in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,539,000. 65.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MFA Financial Price Performance

Shares of MFA Financial stock opened at $6.54 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $8.20 and a 200 day moving average of $9.07. MFA Financial has a 12 month low of $6.38 and a 12 month high of $10.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $661.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.54 and a beta of 1.45.

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 5th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 5th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 22.0%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 144.00%.

MFA Financial Company Profile

MFA Financial, Inc is a real estate investment trust that invests primarily in residential mortgage assets. The company focuses on generating income from a portfolio of residential mortgage loans, mortgage-backed securities and other mortgage-related investments.

Its investments may include agency and non-agency mortgage-backed securities, residential whole loans, credit-risk transfer securities and mortgage servicing rights. MFA also acquires and manages residential mortgage assets through subsidiaries and strategic investment relationships, with activities centered on the U.S.