Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.00.

EFC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. B. Riley raised Ellington Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Ellington Financial from $13.75 to $14.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Ellington Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Financial

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Delphi Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Ellington Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $4,704,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,364,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,659,000 after purchasing an additional 347,587 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,092,902 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,246,000 after buying an additional 311,406 shares during the last quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial during the 4th quarter worth about $2,462,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 1,030.8% during the 4th quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 219,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,659,000 after buying an additional 199,972 shares during the period. 55.62% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ellington Financial Price Performance

NYSE EFC opened at $13.36 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $13.06 and its 200-day moving average is $12.67. The company has a quick ratio of 37.04, a current ratio of 37.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.87. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.19 and a beta of 1.99. Ellington Financial has a 12-month low of $10.88 and a 12-month high of $14.40.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.07. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 106.40% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The business had revenue of $38.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.88 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ellington Financial will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a yield of 11.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 113.04%.

About Ellington Financial

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.