AXS Investments LLC Reduces Stock Position in Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC)

AXS Investments LLC lessened its stake in shares of Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 26,867 shares during the quarter. AXS Investments LLC owned about 0.27% of Ellington Financial worth $2,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in EFC. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ellington Financial by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 22,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 1,398 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ellington Financial by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 20,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 2,137 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 535,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,680,000 after acquiring an additional 5,700 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 61.5% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 21,196 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 8,071 shares during the period. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 43,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $538,000 after acquiring an additional 996 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on EFC. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $14.50 target price on shares of Ellington Financial in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on shares of Ellington Financial from $14.00 to $13.25 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ellington Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. BTIG Research decreased their price objective on shares of Ellington Financial from $15.50 to $13.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jonestrading started coverage on shares of Ellington Financial in a research note on Friday, April 19th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.95.

Ellington Financial Stock Down 1.7 %

NYSE EFC traded down $0.21 on Thursday, hitting $11.84. The stock had a trading volume of 896,298 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,034,198. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $11.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.99, a current ratio of 46.79 and a quick ratio of 46.79. Ellington Financial Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.88 and a 52-week high of $14.21. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83 and a beta of 1.91.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.01). Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 10.51% and a net margin of 66.65%. The firm had revenue of $27.99 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $30.77 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 243.75%.

Ellington Financial 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.