Short Interest in Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Decreases By 13.7%

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 662,300 shares, a decline of 13.7% from the February 28th total of 767,300 shares. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 668,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ellington Credit

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EARN. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $170,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the fourth quarter worth $955,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 21.6% during the third 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. Barclays PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the third quarter valued at $334,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 243.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 3,429 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

Ellington Credit stock traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $5.19. The stock had a trading volume of 1,590,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 482,241. The company has a market cap of $151.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 1.96. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $6.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.56. Ellington Credit has a 52 week low of $5.11 and a 52 week high of $7.26.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.14 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.65 million. Ellington Credit had a net margin of 226.01% and a return on equity of 15.81%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 18.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio is currently 320.00%.

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.