Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Share Price Passes Below 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Shares of Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) passed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $5.01 and traded as low as $4.66. Ellington Credit shares last traded at $4.7250, with a volume of 262,165 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EARN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Ellington Credit from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ellington Credit presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.75.

Ellington Credit Stock Down 1.8%

The company has a market cap of $174.57 million, a PE ratio of -4.47 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $4.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.00.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.57 million. Ellington Credit had a negative net margin of 75.00% and a positive return on equity of 16.47%.

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 29th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 29th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 20.7%. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -92.31%.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Credit

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 122.4% during the first quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 6,038 shares in the last quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 85.8% during the first quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 167,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $741,000 after buying an additional 77,250 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter worth approximately $115,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter worth approximately $75,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

About Ellington Credit

Ellington Credit Income Fund (NYSE: EARN) is a closed-end management investment company that seeks to generate current income through a diversified portfolio of mortgage- and asset-backed securities. The fund primarily invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and asset-backed securities (ABS), with additional exposure to commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and related structured credit instruments. To enhance income and manage risk, the fund employs leverage and derivative strategies such as interest rate swaps and credit default swaps, allowing it to adjust duration and credit exposure dynamically.

The fund is externally managed and advised by Ellington Management Group, LLC, an established investment firm specializing in mortgage credit and structured products.