Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Short Interest Up 7.4% in November

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) was the target of a large increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 716,000 shares, an increase of 7.4% from the November 15th total of 666,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 411,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in shares of Ellington Credit by 78.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 642,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,465,000 after buying an additional 282,600 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ellington Credit in the third quarter valued at approximately $468,000. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Ellington Credit in the third quarter worth approximately $1,412,000. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Ellington Credit by 3.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 79,466 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 2,895 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ellington Credit during the 3rd quarter worth $170,000. 20.40% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ellington Credit Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE EARN traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $6.56. The company had a trading volume of 473,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 337,364. The company has a market capitalization of $188.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.86 and a beta of 1.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $6.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $6.86. Ellington Credit has a 12-month low of $5.54 and a 12-month high of $7.26.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 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 $4.75 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Credit Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.63%. Ellington Credit’s payout ratio is 85.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th.

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.