Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) Short Interest Update

Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 924,751 shares, a decline of 16.9% from the March 31st total of 1,112,566 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 329,229 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on EARN. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 4th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Ellington Credit from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.75.

Ellington Credit Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EARN traded up $0.07 during trading on Friday, reaching $4.79. The company had a trading volume of 423,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 393,514. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4.64 and its 200 day moving average is $5.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.77 million, a PE ratio of -11.67 and a beta of 1.28. Ellington Credit has a twelve month low of $4.27 and a twelve month high of $6.08.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of ($17.48) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 million. Ellington Credit had a positive return on equity of 16.47% and a negative net margin of 34.31%.

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 20.1%. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio is currently -234.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ellington Credit

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. World Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $115,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $75,000. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ellington Credit by 70.8% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 135,107 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $712,000 after acquiring an additional 56,012 shares during the period. Finally, Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ellington Credit by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 347,635 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,832,000 after acquiring an additional 23,775 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

About Ellington Credit

Ellington Credit Income Fund (NYSE: EARN) is a closed-end management investment company that seeks to generate current income through a diversified portfolio of mortgage- and asset-backed securities. The fund primarily invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and asset-backed securities (ABS), with additional exposure to commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and related structured credit instruments. To enhance income and manage risk, the fund employs leverage and derivative strategies such as interest rate swaps and credit default swaps, allowing it to adjust duration and credit exposure dynamically.

The fund is externally managed and advised by Ellington Management Group, LLC, an established investment firm specializing in mortgage credit and structured products.