Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) Announces Monthly Dividend of $0.13

Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) declared a monthly dividend on Thursday, January 9th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.13 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 12.84%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st.

Ellington Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.6% annually over the last three years. Ellington Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 88.1% indicating that its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings tumble. Equities research analysts expect Ellington Financial to earn $1.67 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 93.4%.

Ellington Financial Stock Performance

EFC stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Thursday, reaching $12.15. 734,399 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 880,740. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.59. The company has a current ratio of 37.04, a quick ratio of 37.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.87. The company has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.27 and a beta of 1.97. Ellington Financial has a twelve month low of $10.88 and a twelve month high of $13.46.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.04. Ellington Financial had a return on equity of 10.26% and a net margin of 106.40%. The business had revenue of $33.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ellington Financial will post 1.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ellington Financial

In other news, CIO Michael W. Vranos sold 14,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.48, for a total value of $174,720.00. Following the sale, the executive now directly owns 168,359 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,101,120.32. This represents a 7.68 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 4.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ellington Financial Company Profile

Ellington Financial Inc, through its subsidiary, Ellington Financial Operating Partnership LLC, acquires and manages mortgage-related, consumer-related, corporate-related, and other financial assets in the United States. The company acquires and manages residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) backed by prime jumbo, Alt-A, manufactured housing, and subprime mortgage; RMBS for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by the U.S.