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

Ellington Credit (NYSE:EARN) announced a monthly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st.

Ellington Credit has a dividend payout ratio of 81.4% indicating that 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 Stock Performance

Shares of EARN traded down $0.05 on Thursday, reaching $6.54. The stock had a trading volume of 422,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 548,173. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $6.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $6.82. The firm has a market capitalization 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 earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $4.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.21 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ellington Credit will post 1.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ellington Credit from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th.

Ellington Credit Company 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.