Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Plans $0.13 Monthly Dividend

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) announced a monthly dividend on Friday, April 4th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.13 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, May 27th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 12.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th.

Ellington Financial has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.6% per year over the last three years. Ellington Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 91.8% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings decline. 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 Down 5.0 %

EFC stock opened at $12.42 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $13.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.67. The company has a market cap of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 1.99. Ellington Financial has a 12-month low of $10.88 and a 12-month high of $14.40. The company has a quick ratio of 37.04, a current ratio of 37.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.87.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.07. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 10.26% and a net margin of 106.40%. The firm had revenue of $38.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $112.88 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ellington Financial will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on EFC. B. Riley raised shares of Ellington Financial to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Ellington Financial in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Ellington Financial from $13.75 to $14.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ellington Financial has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.00.

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.