Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $7.18 Million Stock Position in Ellington Financial Inc. $EFC

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) by 18.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 605,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 94,625 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ellington Financial were worth $7,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ellington Financial by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,003,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,101,000 after buying an additional 349,448 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,779,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,814,000 after acquiring an additional 196,894 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,412,329 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,766,000 after acquiring an additional 142,912 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 17.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,218,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,796,000 after acquiring an additional 331,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,566,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,330,000 after purchasing an additional 102,957 shares in the last quarter. 55.62% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

EFC has been the topic of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Ellington Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. 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. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Ellington Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.88.

Ellington Financial Price Performance

NYSE:EFC opened at $13.37 on Tuesday. Ellington Financial Inc. has a one year low of $11.27 and a one year high of $14.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.18, a current ratio of 42.65 and a quick ratio of 42.65. The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of 8.05 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.04.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $188.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 anticipate that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Ellington Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.7%. Ellington Financial’s payout ratio is currently 93.98%.

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.