Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) to Issue Monthly Dividend of $0.15

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC – Get Rating) declared a monthly dividend on Thursday, August 4th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 31st will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, September 26th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.52%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 30th.

Ellington Financial has a payout ratio of 97.8% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Equities analysts expect Ellington Financial to earn $1.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 95.7%.

Ellington Financial Stock Performance

Ellington Financial stock opened at $15.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.91, a quick ratio of 39.86 and a current ratio of 39.86. Ellington Financial has a 1 year low of $12.74 and a 1 year high of $18.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $15.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.36.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). Ellington Financial had a positive return on equity of 9.43% and a negative net margin of 4.65%. The firm had revenue of $37.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $39.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ellington Financial will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ellington Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of EFC. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial in the 1st quarter valued at $4,913,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 290.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 364,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,475,000 after purchasing an additional 271,270 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,002,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,823,000 after purchasing an additional 266,573 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,458,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,385,000 after purchasing an additional 151,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 45.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 377,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,703,000 after purchasing an additional 117,420 shares during the last quarter. 59.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Ellington Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $14.75 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, July 18th. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Ellington Financial from $20.00 to $17.50 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 16th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on shares of Ellington Financial from $19.00 to $17.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 24th. TheStreet cut shares of Ellington Financial from a “b” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, May 6th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group lowered their price target on shares of Ellington Financial to $17.00 in a report on Friday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.85.

Ellington Financial Company Profile

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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 residential mortgage loans; RMBS for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the U.S.