Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Short Interest Update

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) saw a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 535,400 shares, a growth of 22.7% from the October 15th total of 436,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 394,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Credit

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EARN. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit in the third quarter worth $1,412,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Ellington Credit by 78.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 642,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,465,000 after acquiring an additional 282,600 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ellington Credit in the third quarter worth $468,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 269,850 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after acquiring an additional 47,998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC acquired a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $334,000. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Ellington Credit from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

NYSE EARN traded up $0.13 on Friday, hitting $6.46. 688,635 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 462,239. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $6.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.63 million, a P/E ratio of 5.77 and a beta of 1.87. Ellington Credit has a twelve month low of $5.54 and a twelve month high of $7.26.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $4.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.55 million. Ellington Credit had a return on equity of 17.20% and a net margin of 226.01%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ellington Credit will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.86%. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 85.71%.

Ellington Credit Company Profile

Ellington Credit Company, a real estate investment trust, acquires, invests in, and manages residential mortgage-and real estate-related assets. It acquires and manages residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS), including agency pools and agency collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs); and non-agency RMBS, such as non-agency CMOs, such as investment grade and non-investment grade.