Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) Short Interest Up 75.8% in April

Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 1,625,425 shares, a growth of 75.8% from the April 15th total of 924,751 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 482,229 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 4.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EARN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on shares of Ellington Credit from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Ellington Credit Stock Down 0.5%

Ellington Credit stock traded down $0.03 during trading on Monday, hitting $4.80. The stock had a trading volume of 215,096 shares, compared to its average volume of 459,486. Ellington Credit has a 1 year low of $4.27 and a 1 year high of $6.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $4.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.05. The stock has a market cap of $180.20 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.70 and a beta of 1.27.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of ($17.48) million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.71 million. Ellington Credit had a negative net margin of 34.31% and a positive return on equity of 16.47%.

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 20.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio is presently -234.15%.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Credit

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $83,000. World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter worth approximately $115,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Ellington Credit by 109.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 36,350 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 18,967 shares in the last quarter. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ellington Credit Company Profile

Ellington Credit Income Fund (NYSE: EARN) is a closed-end management investment company that seeks to generate current income through a diversified portfolio of mortgage- and asset-backed securities. The fund primarily invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and asset-backed securities (ABS), with additional exposure to commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and related structured credit instruments. To enhance income and manage risk, the fund employs leverage and derivative strategies such as interest rate swaps and credit default swaps, allowing it to adjust duration and credit exposure dynamically.

The fund is externally managed and advised by Ellington Management Group, LLC, an established investment firm specializing in mortgage credit and structured products.