Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Short Interest Update

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,610,000 shares, a growth of 54.7% from the March 15th total of 2,980,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 11,559,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $141,142,000 after purchasing an additional 918,081 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,833,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $61,432,000 after purchasing an additional 569,935 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,524,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,202,000 after purchasing an additional 215,824 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,571,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,594,000 after purchasing an additional 27,118 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Ellington Financial Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:EFC traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $11.18. 459,943 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,140,495. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.31. The company has a current ratio of 46.75, a quick ratio of 46.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.30. Ellington Financial has a fifty-two week low of $10.89 and a fifty-two week high of $14.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $950.97 million, a P/E ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 1.92.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $27.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.77 million. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 11.36% and a net margin of 78.53%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ellington Financial will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Ellington Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.95%. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 173.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EFC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of Ellington Financial from $14.00 to $13.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.06.

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.