Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $655,000 in Ellington Financial Inc. $EFC

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in shares of Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 55,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $655,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi grew its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 106.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,497,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,334,000 after buying an additional 773,291 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $6,080,000. Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in Ellington Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,941,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,003,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,101,000 after acquiring an additional 349,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Ellington Financial by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,218,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,796,000 after acquiring an additional 331,934 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on EFC. BTIG Research lowered Ellington Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ellington Financial currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $13.88.

Ellington Financial Price Performance

EFC traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $13.57. 68,333 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,743,916. Ellington Financial Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.27 and a fifty-two week high of $14.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average is $13.49 and its 200 day moving average is $13.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.18, a quick ratio of 42.65 and a current ratio of 42.65.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $188.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.09 million. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 72.08%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.95 EPS for the current year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 11.5%. Ellington Financial’s payout ratio is 93.98%.

Ellington Financial Profile

Ellington Financial, Inc (NYSE: EFC) is a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on generating attractive risk-adjusted returns through investments in residential and commercial mortgage-related assets. Established in 2013, the company is externally managed by Ellington Financial Management, L.P., a subsidiary of Ellington Management Group, an alternative asset management firm. EFC’s core strategy centers on actively acquiring and managing agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS), mortgage servicing rights, residential whole loans, and other structured finance instruments, including asset-backed securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

The company employs leverage and structured financing tools—such as repurchase agreements and secured credit facilities—to enhance portfolio yield while maintaining focus on risk mitigation.