Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Plans $0.08 Monthly Dividend

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) announced a monthly dividend on Thursday, January 9th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st.

Ellington Credit has a payout ratio of 81.4% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Analysts expect Ellington Credit to earn $1.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 85.0%.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

Shares of EARN traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $6.54. 422,792 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 548,173. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $6.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.82. Ellington Credit has a 12 month low of $5.54 and a 12 month high of $7.26. The stock has a market cap of $190.82 million, a P/E ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.86.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.01. The business 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 15.81% and a net margin of 226.01%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th.

About Ellington Credit

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.