Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) Shares Cross Below 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Ellington Credit Company (NYSE:EARN)’s share price crossed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Tuesday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $4.91 and traded as low as $4.38. Ellington Credit shares last traded at $4.4060, with a volume of 640,796 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on EARN. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Ellington Credit from $6.00 to $5.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 6th. Wall Street Zen raised Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.75.

Ellington Credit Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.91. The stock has a market cap of $165.59 million, a P/E ratio of -4.24 and a beta of 1.27.

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $9.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.57 million. Ellington Credit had a negative net margin of 75.00% and a positive return on equity of 16.47%.

Ellington Credit Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 21.8%. Ellington Credit’s dividend payout ratio is -92.31%.

Institutional Trading of Ellington Credit

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Ellington Credit during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its position in Ellington Credit by 122.4% during the 1st quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 10,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 6,038 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Ellington Credit during the 4th quarter worth about $75,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in shares of Ellington Credit during the 2nd quarter worth about $83,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Ellington Credit during the 4th quarter worth about $115,000. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ellington Credit Company Profile

Ellington Credit Income Fund (NYSE: EARN) is a closed-end management investment company that seeks to generate current income through a diversified portfolio of mortgage- and asset-backed securities. The fund primarily invests in residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and asset-backed securities (ABS), with additional exposure to commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) and related structured credit instruments. To enhance income and manage risk, the fund employs leverage and derivative strategies such as interest rate swaps and credit default swaps, allowing it to adjust duration and credit exposure dynamically.

The fund is externally managed and advised by Ellington Management Group, LLC, an established investment firm specializing in mortgage credit and structured products.