Ellington Credit Company to Issue Monthly Dividend of $0.08 (NYSE:EARN)

Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN) announced a monthly dividend on Thursday, December 4th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the real estate investment trust on Friday, January 30th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 18.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st.

Ellington Credit has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years. Ellington Credit has a dividend payout ratio of 88.9% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Analysts expect Ellington Credit to earn $1.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 85.0%.

Ellington Credit Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Ellington Credit stock opened at $5.33 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.57. Ellington Credit has a 52 week low of $4.32 and a 52 week high of $6.99. The company has a market capitalization of $200.01 million, a PE ratio of 66.57 and a beta of 1.30.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $11.88 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.41 million. Ellington Credit had a net margin of 12.41% and a return on equity of 16.47%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

EARN has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Ellington Credit from $5.75 to $5.25 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ellington Credit currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $5.88.

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.