Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Hold

Zacks Research cut shares of Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on EFC. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen raised Ellington Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded Ellington Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.88.

Ellington Financial Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:EFC opened at $13.63 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 42.65, a current ratio of 42.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.18. The firm has a market cap of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.21 and a beta of 0.93. Ellington Financial has a 12 month low of $11.27 and a 12 month high of $14.12. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $13.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $13.06.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.13. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 72.08% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The company had revenue of $188.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $114.09 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ellington Financial will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Ellington Financial’s payout ratio is currently 93.98%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in EFC. Denali Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 679.9% in the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 88,133 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 76,833 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Ellington Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,654,000. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Ellington Financial by 453.1% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 67,899 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 55,622 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in Ellington Financial by 64.0% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 138,517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,881,000 after buying an additional 54,051 shares during the period. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC bought a new position in Ellington Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $840,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

About Ellington Financial

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.