MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) Shares Gap Down to $10.95

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $10.95, but opened at $10.59. MFA Financial shares last traded at $10.77, with a volume of 219,008 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $12.50 price objective on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MFA Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $12.00.

MFA Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

The company has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.63 and a beta of 2.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.86.

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

MFA Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 13.20%. MFA Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 350.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MFA. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in MFA Financial by 8.7% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 18,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $175,000 after acquiring an additional 1,456 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of MFA Financial by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 492,749 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,735,000 after purchasing an additional 8,119 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of MFA Financial by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 19,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $191,000 after purchasing an additional 3,317 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in MFA Financial by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 822,045 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,900,000 after buying an additional 18,028 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC acquired a new stake in MFA Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $306,000. 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.