Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Separately, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Ellington Credit from $5.75 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.88.

Ellington Credit Trading Up 1.3%

EARN opened at $5.21 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $195.50 million, a P/E ratio of 28.92 and a beta of 1.33. Ellington Credit has a 12 month low of $4.32 and a 12 month high of $7.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $5.56 and a 200 day moving average of $5.57.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a oct 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 1,859.0%. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio is presently 533.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in EARN. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ellington Credit by 485.8% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 932,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,044,000 after purchasing an additional 773,169 shares during the last quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ellington Credit by 230.8% in the second quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. now owns 608,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,500,000 after acquiring an additional 424,700 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Ellington Credit by 415.4% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 379,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,055,000 after acquiring an additional 306,192 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ellington Credit by 1,107.9% in the first quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC now owns 180,672 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $977,000 after acquiring an additional 165,714 shares during the period. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in Ellington Credit by 103.8% in the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 186,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,008,000 after acquiring an additional 94,900 shares during the period. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ellington Credit Company Profile

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.