Short Interest in Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Declines By 11.6%

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,880,000 shares, a drop of 11.6% from the January 31st total of 5,520,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 929,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 30,531 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $370,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 21,364 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 162.3% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,602 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 1,610 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 196,381 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares during the period. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 13.3% in the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 14,415 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,688 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.62% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on EFC. B. Riley raised shares of Ellington Financial to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $14.00 target price on shares of Ellington Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Ellington Financial from $13.75 to $14.50 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $14.00.

Ellington Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:EFC traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $13.29. The stock had a trading volume of 1,805,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 900,488. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a PE ratio of 10.14 and a beta of 1.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $12.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.65. The company has a current ratio of 37.04, a quick ratio of 37.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.87. Ellington Financial has a 1 year low of $10.88 and a 1 year high of $14.40.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.07. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 106.40% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The firm had revenue of $38.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $112.88 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ellington Financial will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 11.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ellington Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 113.04%.

Ellington Financial Company Profile

Ellington Financial Inc, through its subsidiary, Ellington Financial Operating Partnership LLC, acquires and manages mortgage-related, consumer-related, corporate-related, and other financial assets in the United States. The company acquires and manages residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) backed by prime jumbo, Alt-A, manufactured housing, and subprime mortgage; RMBS for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the U.S.