Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Receives $14.55 Average Price Target from Analysts

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $14.5625.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Ellington Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EFC opened at $12.22 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $13.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.93 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 50.60, a current ratio of 47.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 11.02. Ellington Financial has a 52-week low of $11.12 and a 52-week high of $14.12.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $96.44 million during 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Ellington Financial will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 12.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. Ellington Financial’s payout ratio is presently 126.83%.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Amundi raised its position in Ellington Financial by 106.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,497,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,334,000 after buying an additional 773,291 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Ellington Financial by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,653,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,364,000 after acquiring an additional 449,074 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ellington Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $6,080,000. Dana Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $4,997,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $4,941,000. 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.