Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group set a $6.00 price objective on shares of Ellington Credit in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Ellington Credit from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.75.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

Shares of EARN stock opened at $4.58 on Friday. Ellington Credit has a 1 year low of $4.27 and a 1 year high of $6.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $4.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.17. The company has a market cap of $171.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.16 and a beta of 1.29.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.03). Ellington Credit had a negative net margin of 34.31% and a positive return on equity of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $11.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.71 million. Equities research analysts expect that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 21.0%. Ellington Credit’s payout ratio is -234.15%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.