Short Interest in Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. (NYSE:ECC) Decreases By 13.5%

Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. (NYSE:ECC - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 864,100 shares, a drop of 13.5% from the January 15th total of 998,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,169,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Eagle Point Credit

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECC. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Eagle Point Credit in the 3rd quarter worth about $7,600,000. Ballentine Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eagle Point Credit by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 23,158 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,173 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Eagle Point Credit by 42.9% in the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 553,506 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $5,458,000 after purchasing an additional 166,108 shares in the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Eagle Point Credit by 92.6% in the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 109,774 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $1,082,000 after purchasing an additional 52,782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of Eagle Point Credit by 77.2% in the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 77,899 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 33,938 shares in the last quarter. 19.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, B. Riley decreased their price objective on Eagle Point Credit from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Eagle Point Credit Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:ECC traded up $0.21 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $8.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,131,333 shares, compared to its average volume of 959,838. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $8.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 2.27. Eagle Point Credit has a twelve month low of $8.56 and a twelve month high of $10.49. The stock has a market cap of $680.62 million, a P/E ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 0.75.

Eagle Point Credit (NYSE:ECC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The investment management company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.01). Eagle Point Credit had a return on equity of 12.87% and a net margin of 36.60%. On average, equities analysts predict that Eagle Point Credit will post 1.13 EPS for the current year.

Eagle Point Credit Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 10th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 18.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 10th. Eagle Point Credit's payout ratio is 210.00%.

About Eagle Point Credit

Eagle Point Credit Company Inc is a closed ended fund launched and managed by Eagle Point Credit Management LLC. It invests in fixed income markets of the United States. The fund invests equity and junior debt tranches of collateralized loan obligations consisting primarily of below investment grade U.S.