Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three 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 has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.56.

Ellington Financial Price Performance

Shares of NYSE EFC opened at $11.84 on Friday. Ellington Financial has a twelve month low of $11.12 and a twelve month high of $14.12. The company has a current ratio of 47.25, a quick ratio of 47.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.02. The company has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.62 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $13.41.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $96.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $132.07 million. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 53.10%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ellington Financial will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 126.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Ellington Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,997,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 449,074 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 6.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 717,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,321,000 after purchasing an additional 46,288 shares during the period. Delphi Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 28.9% during the second quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. now owns 721,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,376,000 after buying an additional 161,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 3.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,187,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,422,000 after buying an additional 77,047 shares during the last quarter. 55.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.