Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Receives $14.08 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.0833.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on EFC. Zacks Research upgraded Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ellington Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EFC. Amundi grew its stake in Ellington Financial by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,497,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,334,000 after purchasing an additional 773,291 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ellington Financial by 7.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,653,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,364,000 after purchasing an additional 449,074 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Ellington Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,080,000. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Ellington Financial by 263.7% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 593,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,036,000 after purchasing an additional 430,477 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dana Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Ellington Financial in the third quarter valued at about $4,997,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Ellington Financial Stock Performance

Shares of EFC stock opened at $13.35 on Friday. Ellington Financial has a 1-year low of $11.27 and a 1-year high of $14.12. The company has a current ratio of 42.65, a quick ratio of 42.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.04 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $13.10.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.13. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 72.08%.The business had revenue of $188.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.09 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ellington Financial will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 29th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.7%. Ellington Financial’s payout ratio is 93.98%.

Ellington Financial Company Profile

Ellington Financial, Inc (NYSE: EFC) is a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on generating attractive risk-adjusted returns through investments in residential and commercial mortgage-related assets. Established in 2013, the company is externally managed by Ellington Financial Management, L.P., a subsidiary of Ellington Management Group, an alternative asset management firm. EFC’s core strategy centers on actively acquiring and managing agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS), mortgage servicing rights, residential whole loans, and other structured finance instruments, including asset-backed securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

The company employs leverage and structured financing tools—such as repurchase agreements and secured credit facilities—to enhance portfolio yield while maintaining focus on risk mitigation.