Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Raises Position in Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) by 835.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,501 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in Ellington Credit were worth $107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Ellington Credit by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 90,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 1,959 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit in the fourth quarter valued at $250,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ellington Credit by 38.2% in the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 66,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $439,000 after acquiring an additional 18,302 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 56,104,600.0% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,122,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122,092 shares during the period. Finally, Astra Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Ellington Credit during the 4th quarter valued at about $132,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler dropped their target price on Ellington Credit from $8.00 to $6.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Ellington Credit from $6.50 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Ellington Credit from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

Shares of EARN stock opened at $5.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $204.13 million, a P/E ratio of 4.85 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.23. Ellington Credit has a one year low of $4.33 and a one year high of $7.26.

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

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 17.66%. Ellington Credit’s payout ratio is currently 320.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Portfolio Manager Gregory Morris Borenstein bought 8,000 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the portfolio manager now owns 18,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,140. The trade was a 80.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ellington Credit Profile

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.