Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) announced its earnings results on Wednesday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.03, Zacks reports. Ellington Credit had a net margin of 19.24% and a return on equity of 15.90%.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

Shares of EARN traded down $0.08 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $5.10. 295,433 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 495,589. The company has a market capitalization of $191.37 million, a PE ratio of 28.31 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.59. Ellington Credit has a one year low of $4.32 and a one year high of $6.99.

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 18.8%. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio is currently 533.33%.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Credit

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 76,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 4,675 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in Ellington Credit during the second quarter valued at $83,000. Vident Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ellington Credit by 109.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 36,350 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 18,967 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in 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 worth $602,000 after buying an additional 39,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ellington Credit by 56.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 126,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $686,000 after buying an additional 45,845 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Ellington Credit from $5.75 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.88.

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.