Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Stock Has Average Target Price of $14.25

Shares of Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the five brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.25.

EFC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research cut Ellington Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. BTIG Research cut shares of Ellington Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Ellington Financial from $15.00 to $14.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ellington Financial from $14.00 to $14.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ellington Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EFC. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,532 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ellington Financial by 287.6% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 1,904 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 7.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,952,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,043,000 after buying an additional 347,567 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its holdings in Ellington Financial by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 51,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $701,000 after purchasing an additional 1,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ellington Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $243,000. 55.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ellington Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EFC traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $11.60. 945,936 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,594,033. The company’s 50 day moving average is $12.97 and its 200-day moving average is $13.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of 7.08 and a beta of 0.97. Ellington Financial has a fifty-two week low of $11.27 and a fifty-two week high of $14.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.39, a current ratio of 52.06 and a quick ratio of 52.06.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.14. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 52.43%.The firm had revenue of $134.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.59 million. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ellington Financial will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 95.12%.

Ellington Financial Company Profile

Ellington Financial Inc (NYSE:EFC) is a real estate investment trust that invests in a range of mortgage-related and other financial assets. Its portfolio includes residential and commercial mortgage loans, mortgage-backed securities, consumer loans and other credit-related investments.

The company focuses primarily on assets tied to the U.S. housing and real estate markets. Its investment activities may include acquiring, financing and managing residential mortgage loans, including non-agency and other specialized mortgage assets, as well as commercial mortgage investments and mortgage-backed securities.