MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Sunday.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MFA Financial from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of MFA Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $12.00 to $10.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of MFA Financial from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Jones Trading reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $11.75.

MFA Financial Stock Performance

Shares of MFA opened at $9.14 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $937.88 million, a P/E ratio of 10.50 and a beta of 1.70. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.52. MFA Financial has a 1 year low of $7.85 and a 1 year high of $12.60.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $61.28 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.50 million. MFA Financial had a net margin of 17.62% and a return on equity of 8.61%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that MFA Financial will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

MFA Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 15.8%. MFA Financial’s payout ratio is presently 165.52%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MFA. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in MFA Financial by 53.1% in the 2nd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,820,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,681,000 after purchasing an additional 977,820 shares during the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,091,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 152.8% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,022,065 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,669,000 after acquiring an additional 617,759 shares during the last quarter. EMG Holdings L.P. increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 178.8% during the 1st quarter. EMG Holdings L.P. now owns 608,054 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,239,000 after acquiring an additional 389,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of MFA Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $3,183,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.