Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Announces $0.13 Monthly Dividend

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) announced a monthly dividend on Thursday, December 4th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.13 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, January 30th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st.

Ellington Financial has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years. Ellington Financial has a payout ratio of 91.2% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. Equities analysts expect Ellington Financial to earn $1.67 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.4%.

Ellington Financial Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE:EFC opened at $13.60 on Friday. Ellington Financial has a 52 week low of $11.12 and a 52 week high of $14.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $13.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.64, a quick ratio of 50.60 and a current ratio of 50.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.15 and a beta of 0.95.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $242.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $121.99 million. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 14.55% and a net margin of 89.04%. On average, equities analysts expect that Ellington Financial will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jones Trading upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.25 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ellington Financial from $12.50 to $13.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.46.

Ellington Financial Company Profile

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.