Intech Investment Management LLC Reduces Stake in Ellington Financial Inc. $EFC

Intech Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) by 26.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 108,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 38,679 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ellington Financial were worth $1,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial in the first quarter worth about $6,418,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Ellington Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,941,000. Delphi Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ellington Financial by 44.3% in the 1st quarter. Delphi Financial Group Inc. now owns 560,057 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,426,000 after purchasing an additional 171,926 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,899,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,228,000 after purchasing an additional 171,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,187,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,422,000 after purchasing an additional 77,047 shares in the last quarter. 55.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ellington Financial

In other Ellington Financial news, Director Ronald I. Simon bought 5,544 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $13.56 per share, for a total transaction of $75,176.64. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 80,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,084,800. This trade represents a 7.45% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on EFC shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded Ellington Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ellington Financial from $12.50 to $13.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Jones Trading upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.25 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.46.

Ellington Financial Price Performance

Shares of Ellington Financial stock opened at $13.78 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.48 billion, a PE ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 46.78, a quick ratio of 46.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.96. Ellington Financial Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.12 and a 12 month high of $14.40. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.25.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $242.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $121.99 million. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 13.56% and a net margin of 89.52%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 28th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.3%. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 116.42%.

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.