Moors & Cabot Inc. Makes New $271,000 Investment in Ellington Financial Inc. $EFC

Moors & Cabot Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,899 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ellington Financial by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,899,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,228,000 after buying an additional 171,445 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Ellington Financial by 2.1% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,115,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,797,000 after acquiring an additional 22,979 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ellington Financial by 1.3% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 831,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,031,000 after acquiring an additional 10,860 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 717,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after purchasing an additional 46,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Delphi Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ellington Financial by 44.3% in the 1st quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. now owns 560,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,426,000 after purchasing an additional 171,926 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on EFC. Zacks Research lowered shares of Ellington Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on Ellington Financial from $12.50 to $13.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Jones Trading upgraded Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.25 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ronald I. Simon purchased 5,544 shares of Ellington Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $13.56 per share, for a total transaction of $75,176.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,800. The trade was a 7.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ellington Financial Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of Ellington Financial stock opened at $13.35 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.96, a current ratio of 46.78 and a quick ratio of 46.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $13.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.20. Ellington Financial Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.12 and a 1 year high of $14.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 10.76 and a beta of 1.01.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $242.08 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.99 million. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 89.52% and a return on equity of 13.56%. Equities research analysts predict that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a oct 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 1,172.0%. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.42%.

Ellington Financial Profile

Ellington Financial Inc, through its subsidiary, Ellington Financial Operating Partnership LLC, acquires and manages mortgage-related, consumer-related, corporate-related, and other financial assets in the United States. The company acquires and manages residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) backed by prime jumbo, Alt-A, manufactured housing, and subprime mortgage; RMBS for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the U.S.