Piper Sandler Lowers Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Price Target to $5.50

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Piper Sandler from $6.00 to $5.50 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price suggests a potential upside of 19.83% from the stock’s current price.

EARN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group set a $6.00 price target on Ellington Credit in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EARN opened at $4.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $172.40 million, a P/E ratio of -11.20 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $5.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.36. Ellington Credit has a 1-year low of $4.32 and a 1-year high of $6.46.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by ($0.03). Ellington Credit had a negative net margin of 34.31% and a positive return on equity of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $11.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ellington Credit

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ellington Credit by 485.8% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 932,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,044,000 after purchasing an additional 773,169 shares in the last quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 230.8% during the 2nd quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. now owns 608,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,500,000 after buying an additional 424,700 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 415.4% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 379,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,055,000 after buying an additional 306,192 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $369,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 56.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 126,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $686,000 after buying an additional 45,845 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Ellington Credit Company Profile

Ellington Credit Income Fund (NYSE: EARN) is a closed-end management investment company that seeks to generate current income through a diversified portfolio of mortgage- and asset-backed securities. The fund primarily invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and asset-backed securities (ABS), with additional exposure to commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and related structured credit instruments. To enhance income and manage risk, the fund employs leverage and derivative strategies such as interest rate swaps and credit default swaps, allowing it to adjust duration and credit exposure dynamically.

The fund is externally managed and advised by Ellington Management Group, LLC, an established investment firm specializing in mortgage credit and structured products.