Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC Buys 165,714 Shares of Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN)

Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN - Free Report) by 1,107.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 180,672 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 165,714 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC owned about 0.48% of Ellington Credit worth $977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EARN. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. State of Wyoming bought a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC bought a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter valued at about $80,000. Vident Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter valued at about $90,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ellington Credit in the 4th quarter valued at about $97,000. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ellington Credit Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:EARN traded up $0.03 on Thursday, hitting $5.96. The company had a trading volume of 99,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 517,974. The stock has a market capitalization of $223.67 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.88 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $5.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $5.91. Ellington Credit Company has a 52 week low of $4.33 and a 52 week high of $7.20.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.01). Ellington Credit had a negative net margin of 21.82% and a positive return on equity of 17.67%. The company had revenue of $9.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.35 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ellington Credit Company will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a jul 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 16.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. Ellington Credit's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -738.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on EARN shares. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Ellington Credit from $8.00 to $6.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ellington Credit from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ellington Credit from $5.50 to $5.75 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday.

Ellington Credit Profile

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.