Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. (NYSE:ECC) Declares $0.06 Monthly Dividend

Key Points

• Eagle Point Credit declared a $0.06 monthly dividend, payable December 31 to shareholders of record on December 11. The annualized yield is approximately 18.6%.
• The dividend appears financially strained: the company’s payout ratio is 136.2%, while analysts expect earnings of $0.71 per share against $1.28 in annual dividends, implying a projected payout ratio of 180.3%.
• ECC shares traded around $3.88, near the lower end of their 52-week range. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with a $6.50 average price target, despite the company recently missing quarterly EPS estimates.

Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. (NYSE:ECC - Get Free Report) announced a monthly dividend on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.06 per share by the investment management company on Thursday, December 31st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 18.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 11th.

Eagle Point Credit has raised its dividend by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years. Eagle Point Credit has a payout ratio of 136.2% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Eagle Point Credit to earn $0.71 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.28 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 180.3%.

Eagle Point Credit Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECC traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $3.88. 1,096,287 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,591,860. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $3.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $512.31 million, a P/E ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. Eagle Point Credit has a one year low of $3.46 and a one year high of $7.77.

Eagle Point Credit (NYSE:ECC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The investment management company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.01). Eagle Point Credit had a negative return on equity of 1.09% and a negative net margin of 87.16%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Eagle Point Credit will post 0.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECC has been the topic of several research reports. Zacks Research raised Eagle Point Credit from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Alliance Global Partners reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Eagle Point Credit in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $6.50.

About Eagle Point Credit

Eagle Point Credit Company is a closed-end, non-diversified management investment company that seeks to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns primarily through investments in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) and related structured credit instruments. The firm is externally managed by Eagle Point Credit Management, LLC, a specialized credit asset manager focused on the structured credit markets. Eagle Point Credit Company’s shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ECC.

The company’s investment strategy centers on acquiring both equity and debt tranches of actively managed CLOs alongside opportunistic positions in senior secured loans, high-yield bonds and credit derivatives.

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