Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Short Interest Down 13.7% in March

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 662,300 shares, a decrease of 13.7% from the February 28th total of 767,300 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 668,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.0 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ellington Credit

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of EARN. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Ellington Credit by 243.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 3,429 shares during the period. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the 4th quarter worth about $49,000. Naviter Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ellington Credit during the 4th quarter valued at about $72,000. Finally, McIlrath & Eck LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

NYSE:EARN traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $5.19. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,590,137 shares, compared to its average volume of 482,241. Ellington Credit has a fifty-two week low of $5.11 and a fifty-two week high of $7.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $6.27 and its 200-day moving average is $6.56. The firm has a market cap of $151.28 million, a P/E ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 1.96.

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

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 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.