Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Cut to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday morning.

EARN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on shares of Ellington Credit from $8.00 to $6.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group cut their price target on Ellington Credit from $6.50 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

NYSE:EARN opened at $5.37 on Thursday. Ellington Credit has a one year low of $4.33 and a one year high of $7.26. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $5.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.79 and a beta of 1.31.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.65 million. Ellington Credit had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 226.01%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.88%. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio is 320.00%.

Insider Activity at Ellington Credit

In other news, Portfolio Manager Gregory Morris Borenstein acquired 8,000 shares of Ellington Credit stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $4.73 per share, with a total value of $37,840.00. Following the purchase, the portfolio manager now directly owns 18,000 shares in the company, valued at $85,140. The trade was a 80.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ellington Credit

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ellington Credit by 21.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 269,850 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,885,000 after acquiring an additional 47,998 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC bought a new stake in Ellington Credit in the third quarter worth $334,000. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Ellington Credit by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 235,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,558,000 after buying an additional 33,040 shares during the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter worth $152,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Credit during the 4th quarter worth about $114,000. Institutional investors own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

About Ellington Credit

Ellington Credit Company, a real estate investment trust, acquires, invests in, and manages residential mortgage-and real estate-related assets. It acquires and manages residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), including agency pools and agency collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs); and non-agency RMBS, such as non-agency CMOs, such as investment grade and non-investment grade.