Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Shares Pass Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN)’s stock price crossed below its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $5.57 and traded as low as $5.28. Ellington Credit shares last traded at $5.3250, with a volume of 151,294 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EARN has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Ellington Credit from $5.75 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.88.

Ellington Credit Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.57. The firm has a market cap of $200.01 million, a P/E ratio of 66.57 and a beta of 1.30.

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

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

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. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 18.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Ellington Credit’s payout ratio is presently 1,200.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ellington Credit

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bogart Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Ellington Credit by 62.5% during the second quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 5,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Credit during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in Ellington Credit by 211.0% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 14,016 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,000 after buying an additional 9,509 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in Ellington Credit in the 2nd quarter worth $83,000. Finally, PharVision Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Ellington Credit during the first quarter valued at about $93,000. Institutional investors own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

About Ellington Credit

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.