Short Interest in Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) Increases By 37.8%

Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 495,448 shares, an increase of 37.8% from the November 30th total of 359,652 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 306,505 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Based on an average trading volume of 306,505 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.3% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Credit

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ellington Credit by 6.5% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 76,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $415,000 after purchasing an additional 4,675 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Ellington Credit by 60.3% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 104,689 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $602,000 after buying an additional 39,392 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in Ellington Credit by 109.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 36,350 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $209,000 after buying an additional 18,967 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in Ellington Credit during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Finally, Delphi Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ellington Credit by 230.8% in the 2nd quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. now owns 608,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,500,000 after acquiring an additional 424,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EARN has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group set a $6.00 target price on Ellington Credit in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ellington Credit presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.25.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

NYSE EARN traded down $0.05 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $5.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 334,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 299,481. Ellington Credit has a fifty-two week low of $4.32 and a fifty-two week high of $6.86. The company has a market cap of $197.68 million, a PE ratio of 65.80 and a beta of 1.30. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.52.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 19th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $11.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.41 million. Ellington Credit had a net margin of 12.41% and a return on equity of 16.47%. Analysts expect that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 18.2%. Ellington Credit’s payout ratio is 1,200.00%.

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.