Posts for Ticker ‘MFA’

Dividend Surprise At MFA (MFA)

Money Stack ImageMFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE: MFA) is a surprise on the dividend front this morning. The company is a REIT that invests in mortgage-backed securities, and while that sounds as though it has all the qualifications for problems the company is actually raising its dividend again.  This time by 14%.

This may seem like a small raise, but you have to consider the ills of the sector.  In December, the company cut its dividend by a penny to $0.21.  It raised its dividend in April to $0.22.  And the new rate today is $0.25.  At the end of 2007, this rate was only $0.10 per quarter.
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Posted on: July 1, 2009 – 8:09 am in Banking, Bonds, Dividend, Financial Stocks, REIT,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (ALU, CHS, LONG, IFX, JNPR, MAR, MFA, NSC, SNDA, VVUS)

These are ten of the analyst calls we are focusing on this Thursday morning:

  • Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  • Chico’s FAS (NYSE: CHS) cut to Sell at Citigroup.
  • eLong (NASDAQ: LONG) Cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup.
  • Infineon (NYSE: IFX) Cut to Reduce at Oppenheimer.
  • Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) cut to Neutral at UBS; started as Hold at Lazard.
  • Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) Cut to Equalweight at Morgan Stanley.
  • MFA Mortgage (NYSE: MFA) raised to Outperform at Keefe Bruyette Woods.
  • Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) Raised To Buy from Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
  • Shanda Interactive (NASDAQ: SNDA) Cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
  • Vivus (NASDAQ: VVUS) cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.

Jon C. Ogg
May 29, 2008

Posted on: May 29, 2008 – 6:55 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (CN, CHU, DISH, FLR, IPCM, MDR, MFA, PLD, SKS, WRE)

These are not the only calls impacting stocks, but these are the top ten individual calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on:

  • China Netcom (NYSE: CN) downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Fluor (NYSE: FLR) raised to Buy at Citigroup.
  • IPC The Hospitalist (NASDAQ: IPCM) started as Buy at Jefferies.
  • McDermott (NYSE: MDR) raised to Buy at Citigroup.
  • MFA Mortgage (NYSE: MFA) downgraded to Market Perform at KBW.
  • ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) raised to Top Pick at RBC Capital Markets.
  • Saks (NYSE: SKS) downgraded to Neutral at Banc of America.
  • Washington REIT (NYSE: WRE) started as Outperform at RBC Capital.

Jon C. Ogg
March 6, 2008

Posted on: March 6, 2008 – 7:47 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

MFA Mortgage Ready To Go Vulture Investing In Mortgages (MFA, MFR, NLY, CIM, BX)

MFResidential Investments, Inc. submitted an IPO filing on Tuesday.  The total proposed maximum aggregate amount in securities is listed as $250,000,000 in securities, although this number is merely for filing purposes.  The underwriting group is listed as UBS, Bear, Stearns, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley. They have applied for the trading symbol “MFR” on the New York Stock Exchange.

MFResidential Investments will target residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and residential mortgage loans, as well as other real estate-related financial assets on a leveraged basis.  MFA Mortgage Investments, Inc. (NYSE: MFA) owns MFA Manager, LLC, who will externally manage MFResidential Investments. The company will seek to provide appealing risk-adjusted returns to its shareholders by investing in a diverse spectrum of real-estate financial assets. These assets will be financed through repurchase agreements, warehouse facilities and other forms of borrowing. MFResidential and its manager, MFA, believe that the current housing market situation has provided opportunities to take advantage of low interest rates and credit spreads. MFA engages in similar investing and financing activities for real-estate financial assets.

This isn’t at all the first of the mortgage vulture investing in this sector.  We have been pounding the table on  the Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY) spin-off Chimera Corp. (NYSE: CIM) even before they came public as having the right expertise and model for pulling this off.  The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) has also made its vulture ventures known.  Octavian recently went vulture too, although this was on an international scope.  Even hedge fund Marathon announced plans to go vulture investing with TCW Group.

MFA Mortgage has a $1.12 Billion market cap and its shares are unchanged today at $10.70; its 52-week trading range is $5.55 to $11.07.

Rachel Lopez
February 13, 2008

Posted on: February 13, 2008 – 3:08 pm in Financial Stocks, IPOs, Value Investing, , , , ,

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (September 19, 2007)

ADP added to Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.
AOS cut to Underperform at Baird.
ASBC raised to Equal weight at Lehman.
BBX cut to Mkt Perform at KBW.
BHE cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
CCE cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
CCJ cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
CFR cut to Equal Weight at Lehman.
CKFR cut to Hold at Citigroup.
CNET started as Neutral at Oppenheimer.
DIS started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
EGP started as Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.
INTX raised to Strong Buy at JMP Securities.
JNPR cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
LCC started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
MELI started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
MFA raised to Outperform at Bear Stearns.
MFE cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
PLXS raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
PRGN started as Buy at UBS.
RHD cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
RT raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
SIRI cut to Neutral at UBS.
SIVB cut to Underweight at Lehman.
TCBI cut to Equal Weight at Lehman.
TWX started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
VG cut to Sell at Soleil.
VIA started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
WRNC raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
WBS raised to Equal Weight at Lehman.
XMSR cut to Neutral at UBS.
ZINC started as Outperform at FBR.

If you enjoy reading the key upgrades and downgrades on Wall Street, tune in here to 24/7 Wall St. between 7:30 and 8:00 AM EST every day.

Jon C. Ogg
September 19, 2007

Jon C. Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St., LLC Special Situation Investing Newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: September 19, 2007 – 7:04 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , ,

Earlybird Analyst Calls (June 14, 2007)

ACL started as Buy at Jefferies.
AMGN started as Mkt Perform at Rodman & Renshaw.
B started as Outperform at CIBC.
CBB started as Buy at UBS.
CHE started as Buy at Jefferies.
CTL raised to Neutral at UBS.
CYTX started as Mkt Perform at Piper Jaffray.
DJ cut to Reduce at UBS.
EQ raised to Buy at UBS.
ESI cut to Equal Weight at Lehman.
EYE started as Underperform at Jefferies.
GNLB started as Buy at Oppenheimer.
ILMN raised to Outperform at Bear Stearns.
ISIL raised to Buy at B of A.
MFA started as Outperform at JMP Securities.
MNKD started as Buy at B of A.
OPTT started as Outperform at Bear Stearns.
PT raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
RACK started as Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
RBC started as Sector Perform at CIBC.
SLM cut to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
SNY cut to Neutral at HSBC; cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
THI raised to Outperform at CIBC.
VDSI cut to Hold at Jefferies.
VTIV raised to Strong Buy at First Albany.
WIN started as Neutral at UBS.
ZGEN started as Neutral at Oppenheimer.

Jon C. Ogg
June 14, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: June 14, 2007 – 6:29 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,