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

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) announced a monthly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid 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 dividend 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 decline. 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 Stock Performance

Shares of Ellington Credit stock traded down $0.05 on Thursday, reaching $6.54. 422,792 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 548,173. Ellington Credit has a 52 week low of $5.54 and a 52 week high of $7.26. The company has a market capitalization of $190.82 million, a P/E ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $6.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $6.82.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.55 million. Ellington Credit had a net margin of 226.01% and a return on equity of 15.81%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.21 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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.