Ellington Financial Inc. $EFC is Delphi Financial Group Inc.’s 4th Largest Position

Delphi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) by 28.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 721,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 161,700 shares during the quarter. Ellington Financial comprises approximately 6.6% of Delphi Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Delphi Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.76% of Ellington Financial worth $9,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $6,418,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 2.1% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,115,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,797,000 after purchasing an additional 22,979 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 22.5% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 147,601 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,957,000 after purchasing an additional 27,068 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Ellington Financial by 28.3% during the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 45,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $597,000 after purchasing an additional 9,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corebridge Financial Inc. grew its stake in Ellington Financial by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 46,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,000 after buying an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EFC. Jones Trading raised shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.25 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Zacks Research lowered Ellington Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Ellington Financial from $12.50 to $13.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ellington Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.46.

Insider Activity at Ellington Financial

In other news, Director Ronald I. Simon bought 5,544 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.56 per share, with a total value of $75,176.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,800. This represents a 7.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ellington Financial Stock Up 0.5%

EFC opened at $13.95 on Thursday. Ellington Financial Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.12 and a 12 month high of $14.40. The company has a current ratio of 46.78, a quick ratio of 46.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.96. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.27. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 1.01.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.09. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 13.56% and a net margin of 89.52%.The company had revenue of $242.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.99 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.38 EPS for the current year.

Ellington Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.2%. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 116.42%.

About Ellington Financial

Ellington Financial Inc, through its subsidiary, Ellington Financial Operating Partnership LLC, acquires and manages mortgage-related, consumer-related, corporate-related, and other financial assets in the United States. The company acquires and manages residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) backed by prime jumbo, Alt-A, manufactured housing, and subprime mortgage; RMBS for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the U.S.