Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

Separately, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Ellington Credit from $5.75 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.88.

Ellington Credit Stock Performance

NYSE EARN opened at $5.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $195.12 million, a P/E ratio of 28.86 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.59. Ellington Credit has a fifty-two week low of $4.32 and a fifty-two week high of $6.99.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $9.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.15 million. Ellington Credit had a return on equity of 15.90% and a net margin of 19.24%. As a group, analysts forecast that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 18.5%. Ellington Credit’s payout ratio is 533.33%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ellington Credit

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ellington Credit by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 76,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 4,675 shares in the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 60.3% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 104,689 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 39,392 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 109.1% during the second quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 36,350 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 18,967 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Ellington Credit during the 2nd quarter worth about $83,000. Finally, Delphi Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 230.8% during the 2nd quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. now owns 608,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,500,000 after purchasing an additional 424,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

About Ellington Credit

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.