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

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) had its price target reduced by equities researchers at Piper Sandler from $6.00 to $5.50 in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.64% from the stock’s current price.

EARN has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group set a $6.00 target price on shares of Ellington Credit in a research 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 issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.75.

Ellington Credit Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EARN opened at $4.84 on Friday. Ellington Credit has a 52-week low of $4.32 and a 52-week high of $6.46. The company has a market capitalization of $181.79 million, a P/E ratio of -11.80 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.36.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 4th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.24 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $11.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.71 million. Ellington Credit had a negative net margin of 34.31% and a positive return on equity of 16.47%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Ellington Credit by 485.8% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 932,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $5,044,000 after purchasing an additional 773,169 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ellington Credit by 56.6% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 126,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $686,000 after buying an additional 45,845 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position 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 during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 71,562 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $411,000 after acquiring an additional 8,859 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 13.7% during the 2nd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 19,566 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $113,000 after acquiring an additional 2,363 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

About Ellington Credit

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.