MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.36 Per Share

MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE:MFA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 6th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.36 per share by the real estate investment trust on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.57%. This is a 2.9% increase from MFA Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35.

MFA Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 206.1% per year over the last three years. MFA Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 91.5% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble.

MFA Financial Price Performance

NYSE MFA opened at $10.62 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.32. The company has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 2.18. MFA Financial has a 1-year low of $9.36 and a 1-year high of $13.45.

MFA Financial (NYSE:MFA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by ($0.02). MFA Financial had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 9.61%. The firm had revenue of $50.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.06 million. On average, research analysts expect that MFA Financial will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MFA. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded MFA Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on MFA Financial from $13.50 to $12.50 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of MFA Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $14.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of MFA Financial in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.70.

MFA Financial Company Profile

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.