Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Rating Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Ellington Credit Stock Performance

NYSE:EARN opened at $6.46 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $163.63 million, a P/E ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $6.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.91. Ellington Credit has a 52 week low of $5.54 and a 52 week high of $7.26.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Ellington Credit had a net margin of 226.01% and a return on equity of 17.20%. The business had revenue of $4.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.55 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.21 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ellington Credit will post 1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ellington Credit

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EARN. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in Ellington Credit by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 79,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,895 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 243.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 3,429 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ellington Credit during the third quarter worth about $170,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Ellington Credit during the third quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, Barclays PLC acquired a new position in Ellington Credit in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $334,000. 20.40% of the stock is 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.