Inspire Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN)

Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 14,796 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $98,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Naviter Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter worth approximately $72,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Ellington Credit during the 4th quarter valued at $955,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter worth $114,000. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ellington Credit in the fourth quarter worth $152,000. Finally, Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Ellington Credit by 16.3% in the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 235,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,558,000 after purchasing an additional 33,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

Shares of Ellington Credit stock opened at $5.90 on Friday. Ellington Credit has a one year low of $5.78 and a one year high of $7.26. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $6.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $172.00 million, a P/E ratio of 5.26 and a beta of 1.96.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.14 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.65 million. Ellington Credit had a net margin of 226.01% and a return on equity of 15.81%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 16.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 85.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com raised 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.