Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.55.

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ellington Financial

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Amundi lifted its stake in Ellington Financial by 106.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,497,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,334,000 after purchasing an additional 773,291 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 7.2% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,653,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,364,000 after buying an additional 449,074 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $6,080,000. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial during the 3rd quarter worth $4,997,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ellington Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $4,941,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Ellington Financial Price Performance

NYSE EFC opened at $12.42 on Friday. Ellington Financial has a 12 month low of $11.12 and a 12 month high of $14.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 10.09 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.64, a current ratio of 50.60 and a quick ratio of 50.60.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.03. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 15.06% and a net margin of 53.10%.The firm had revenue of $96.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $132.07 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ellington Financial will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be issued a $0.13 dividend. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 12.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.83%.

Ellington Financial Company Profile

Ellington Financial, Inc (NYSE: EFC) is a mortgage real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on generating attractive risk-adjusted returns through investments in residential and commercial mortgage-related assets. Established in 2013, the company is externally managed by Ellington Financial Management, L.P., a subsidiary of Ellington Management Group, an alternative asset management firm. EFC’s core strategy centers on actively acquiring and managing agency and non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities (MBS), mortgage servicing rights, residential whole loans, and other structured finance instruments, including asset-backed securities and commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

The company employs leverage and structured financing tools—such as repurchase agreements and secured credit facilities—to enhance portfolio yield while maintaining focus on risk mitigation.