Brokerages Set Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) PT at $14.29

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $14.2917.

EFC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jones Trading raised shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $14.25 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ellington Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Ellington Financial from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ellington Financial from $12.00 to $12.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th.

Ellington Financial Stock Performance

EFC stock opened at $13.76 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.96, a quick ratio of 42.26 and a current ratio of 46.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $12.94. Ellington Financial has a 52 week low of $11.12 and a 52 week high of $14.40.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $92.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $112.48 million. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 89.52% and a return on equity of 13.56%. Research analysts anticipate that Ellington Financial will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.3%. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 125.81%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ellington Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MAS Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ellington Financial by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. MAS Advisors LLC now owns 22,928 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 788 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its stake in Ellington Financial by 67.6% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in Ellington Financial by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 81,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can increased its stake in Ellington Financial by 6.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corebridge Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. now owns 46,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 893 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

About Ellington Financial

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.