Ellington Financial Inc. (EFC) To Go Ex-Dividend on January 31st

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) announced a monthly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of 0.13 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st.

Ellington Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.6% per year over the last three years. Ellington Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 90.7% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Research analysts expect Ellington Financial to earn $1.67 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.4%.

Ellington Financial Stock Up 0.5 %

NYSE EFC opened at $12.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.68 and a beta of 1.97. Ellington Financial has a 52 week low of $10.88 and a 52 week high of $13.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.87, a quick ratio of 37.04 and a current ratio of 37.04. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $12.31 and a 200-day moving average of $12.61.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $33.63 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.95 million. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 106.40% and a return on equity of 10.26%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ellington Financial will post 1.38 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on EFC. B. Riley raised shares of Ellington Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note 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 research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $13.58.

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.