Bank of New York Mellon Corp Increases Stock Position in Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) by 4.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 671,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,188 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned 0.71% of Ellington Financial worth $8,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 81,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its stake in Ellington Financial by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 30,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. CenterStar Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Ellington Financial by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. CenterStar Asset Management LLC now owns 12,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $170,000 after purchasing an additional 1,638 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Ellington Financial by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 196,381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,380,000 after buying an additional 1,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 182,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on EFC. B. Riley boosted their target price on Ellington Financial from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ellington Financial from $12.00 to $12.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Ellington Financial from $15.00 to $14.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.30.

Ellington Financial Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Ellington Financial stock opened at $13.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 0.98. Ellington Financial Inc. has a 1 year low of $11.12 and a 1 year high of $14.40. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.11, a current ratio of 42.26 and a quick ratio of 42.26.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.01. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 101.59% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $82.91 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $107.06 million. Analysts expect that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a jul 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 11.8%. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 110.64%.

Ellington Financial Profile

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