Jennison Associates LLC Buys 54,051 Shares of Ellington Financial Inc. $EFC

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) by 64.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 138,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,051 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.12% of Ellington Financial worth $1,881,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EFC. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Ellington Financial during the third quarter worth about $4,997,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ellington Financial by 7.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,653,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,364,000 after acquiring an additional 449,074 shares in the last quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC bought a new position in Ellington Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $840,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Ellington Financial by 453.1% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 67,899 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $922,000 after acquiring an additional 55,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Ellington Financial by 442.7% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 57,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $746,000 after acquiring an additional 46,902 shares in the last quarter. 55.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on EFC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ellington Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.56.

Ellington Financial Stock Performance

EFC stock opened at $13.24 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $12.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.10. The company has a current ratio of 47.25, a quick ratio of 47.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.02. The firm has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of 10.76 and a beta of 0.94. Ellington Financial Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.27 and a 1-year high of $14.12.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $96.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $132.07 million. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 53.10%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Ellington Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 30th. Ellington Financial’s payout ratio is 126.83%.

Ellington Financial Company Profile

Ellington Financial, Inc (NYSE: EFC) is a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on generating attractive risk-adjusted returns through investments in residential and commercial mortgage-related assets. Established in 2013, the company is externally managed by Ellington Financial Management, L.P., a subsidiary of Ellington Management Group, an alternative asset management firm. EFC’s core strategy centers on actively acquiring and managing agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS), mortgage servicing rights, residential whole loans, and other structured finance instruments, including asset-backed securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

The company employs leverage and structured financing tools—such as repurchase agreements and secured credit facilities—to enhance portfolio yield while maintaining focus on risk mitigation.