Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) to Issue $0.08 Monthly Dividend

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) announced a monthly dividend on Thursday, January 9th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 14.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st.

Ellington Credit has a dividend payout ratio of 81.4% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Equities research analysts expect Ellington Credit to earn $1.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 85.0%.

Ellington Credit Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:EARN traded down $0.05 during trading on Thursday, hitting $6.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 422,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 548,173. The company has a 50-day moving average of $6.63 and a 200-day moving average of $6.82. The firm has a market cap of $190.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.86. Ellington Credit has a 12 month low of $5.54 and a 12 month high of $7.26.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. Ellington Credit had a net margin of 226.01% and a return on equity of 15.81%. The business had revenue of $4.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.55 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.21 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research 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.