State of Alaska Department of Revenue Boosts Holdings in Ellington Financial Inc. $EFC

State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its holdings in Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) by 12.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,070 shares during the quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned 0.06% of Ellington Financial worth $730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in EFC. Amundi purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Financial in the first quarter worth approximately $6,418,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Ellington Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,941,000. Delphi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 44.3% during the 1st quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. now owns 560,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,426,000 after acquiring an additional 171,926 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,899,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,228,000 after acquiring an additional 171,445 shares during the period. Finally, Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 896.5% during the 1st quarter. Prevail Innovative Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 158,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,104,000 after acquiring an additional 142,721 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Ellington Financial from $15.00 to $14.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Ellington Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ellington Financial from $12.50 to $13.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Jones Trading upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.25 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ellington Financial presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.46.

Ellington Financial Price Performance

EFC stock opened at $13.44 on Wednesday. Ellington Financial Inc. has a one year low of $11.12 and a one year high of $14.40. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $13.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.96, a quick ratio of 46.78 and a current ratio of 46.78. The company has a market capitalization of $1.34 billion, a PE ratio of 10.83 and a beta of 1.00.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 89.52% and a return on equity of 13.56%. The firm had revenue of $92.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.48 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a oct 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $0.13 dividend. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 125.81%.

Insider Transactions at Ellington Financial

In other Ellington Financial news, Director Ronald I. Simon purchased 5,544 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.56 per share, with a total value of $75,176.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,800. This trade represents a 7.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.