Piper Sandler Cuts Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Price Target to $6.50

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN - Free Report) had its price target cut by Piper Sandler from $8.00 to $6.50 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the real estate investment trust's stock.

Ellington Credit Stock Performance

NYSE EARN traded up $0.20 on Tuesday, hitting $4.78. The stock had a trading volume of 538,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,164. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.93 and a 200-day moving average of $6.42. The company has a market capitalization of $179.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.26 and a beta of 1.74. Ellington Credit has a 52-week low of $4.33 and a 52-week high of $7.26.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.65 million. Ellington Credit had a return on equity of 15.81% and a net margin of 226.01%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 20.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Ellington Credit's dividend payout ratio is currently 320.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Portfolio Manager Gregory Morris Borenstein acquired 8,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $4.73 per share, for a total transaction of $37,840.00. Following the acquisition, the portfolio manager now owns 18,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $85,140. This trade represents a 80.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Credit

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $170,000. FMR LLC lifted its position in Ellington Credit by 243.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,839 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 3,429 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the 3rd quarter valued at $220,000. Barclays PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit in the 3rd quarter worth about $334,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 21.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 269,850 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,885,000 after buying an additional 47,998 shares during the period. 20.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.