Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

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

Ellington Financial Trading Up 1.3%

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

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

Institutional Trading of Ellington Financial

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Ellington Financial by 18.3% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 785 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC grew its stake in Ellington Financial by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC now owns 13,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 1,002 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC increased its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 18,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $246,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 35.3% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after acquiring an additional 1,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 26,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $361,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

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.