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

StockNews.com lowered shares of Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Friday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. UBS Group decreased 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. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Ellington Credit from $8.00 to $6.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

Shares of Ellington Credit stock opened at $5.70 on Friday. Ellington Credit has a one year low of $4.33 and a one year high of $7.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $5.41 and its 200 day moving average is $6.17. The firm has a market cap of $213.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.08 and a beta of 1.31.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. Ellington Credit had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 226.01%. The company had revenue of $6.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.65 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 16.86%. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio is presently 320.00%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Portfolio Manager Gregory Morris Borenstein bought 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $4.73 per share, for a total transaction of $37,840.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the portfolio manager now directly owns 18,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $85,140. This trade represents a 80.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 56,104,600.0% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,122,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,428,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122,092 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $955,000. First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 90,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $602,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the third quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $744,000. Institutional investors own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Ellington Credit Company 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.