First Trust Advisors LP Buys 1,959 Shares of Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,895 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,959 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.31% of Ellington Credit worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in EARN. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its stake in Ellington Credit by 56,104,600.0% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,122,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,122,092 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ellington Credit by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 304,629 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,018,000 after acquiring an additional 34,779 shares during the last quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 16.3% in the 4th quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 235,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,558,000 after purchasing an additional 33,040 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Ellington Credit by 35.5% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 195,955 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 51,345 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit in the fourth quarter valued at $955,000. Institutional investors own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Ellington Credit from $8.00 to $6.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered Ellington Credit from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Ellington Credit from $6.50 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th.

Ellington Credit Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE EARN opened at $5.37 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $201.69 million, a PE ratio of 4.79 and a beta of 1.31. Ellington Credit has a 12 month low of $4.33 and a 12 month high of $7.26. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $5.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.22.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. Ellington Credit had a net margin of 226.01% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The business had revenue of $6.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.65 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.88%. Ellington Credit’s payout ratio is currently 320.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ellington Credit

In other Ellington Credit news, Portfolio Manager Gregory Morris Borenstein purchased 8,000 shares of Ellington Credit stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $4.73 per share, for a total transaction of $37,840.00. Following the acquisition, the portfolio manager now owns 18,000 shares in the company, valued at $85,140. This trade represents a 80.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ellington Credit Company Profile

Ellington Credit Company, a real estate investment trust, acquires, invests in, and manages residential mortgage-and real estate-related assets. It acquires and manages residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), including agency pools and agency collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs); and non-agency RMBS, such as non-agency CMOs, such as investment grade and non-investment grade.