Intech Investment Management LLC Increases Holdings in Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC)

Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) by 123.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 120,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 66,600 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ellington Financial were worth $1,461,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delphi Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $4,704,000. Sigma Planning Corp bought a new stake in shares of Ellington Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $664,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 230.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 138,440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 96,525 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,140,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,885,000 after acquiring an additional 124,943 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 48.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 231,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,985,000 after acquiring an additional 75,143 shares during the period. 55.62% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. B. Riley raised shares of Ellington Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Ellington Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Ellington Financial from $13.75 to $14.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.00.

Ellington Financial Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of Ellington Financial stock opened at $13.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.10 and a beta of 1.99. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $12.97 and a 200 day moving average of $12.66. Ellington Financial Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $10.88 and a fifty-two week high of $14.40.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $38.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $112.88 million. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 106.40% and a return on equity of 10.26%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a mar 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.13 dividend. This represents a yield of 11.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ellington Financial’s payout ratio is currently 113.04%.

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.