Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Down 50.8% in October

Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) saw a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 370,210 shares, a decrease of 50.8% from the September 30th total of 752,067 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 640,420 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Ellington Credit from $5.00 to $4.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $5.25.

Ellington Credit Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EARN traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $3.49. 455,497 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 560,868. The company has a market cap of $133.22 million, a PE ratio of -3.56 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.54. Ellington Credit has a 1-year low of $3.22 and a 1-year high of $5.72.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $6.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.57 million.

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 27.5%. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -97.96%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ellington Credit

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Waverly Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 85.8% during the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 167,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $741,000 after buying an additional 77,250 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. boosted its stake in Ellington Credit by 29.3% in the third quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 45,038 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 10,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC boosted its stake in Ellington Credit by 122.4% in the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 6,038 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

About Ellington Credit

Ellington Credit Corporation (NYSE:EARN) is a real estate investment trust focused primarily on residential mortgage credit. The company invests in residential mortgage-backed securities, residential mortgage loans and other residential real estate-related assets, with an emphasis on credit-sensitive investments that may offer exposure to different segments of the housing finance market.

Ellington Credit is externally managed by Ellington Residential Mortgage LP, an affiliate of Ellington Management Group.