Sigma Planning Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in Ellington Financial Inc. $EFC

Sigma Planning Corp lowered its position in Ellington Financial Inc. (NYSE:EFC) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 52,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,073 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp owned about 0.06% of Ellington Financial worth $678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of EFC. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ellington Financial by 32.3% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 28,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 6,892 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in Ellington Financial during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $177,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Ellington Financial by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 451,287 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,984,000 after purchasing an additional 11,975 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Ellington Financial by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 671,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,901,000 after purchasing an additional 29,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ellington Financial by 28.3% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 45,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 9,925 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on EFC shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Ellington Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Jones Trading upgraded shares of Ellington Financial from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $14.25 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ellington Financial from $12.50 to $13.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ellington Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.46.

Ellington Financial Trading Down 3.2%

Shares of EFC opened at $13.35 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 10.76 and a beta of 1.01. The company’s fifty day moving average is $13.42 and its 200 day moving average is $13.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.96, a quick ratio of 46.78 and a current ratio of 46.78. Ellington Financial Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.12 and a fifty-two week high of $14.40.

Ellington Financial (NYSE:EFC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The financial services provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.09. Ellington Financial had a net margin of 89.52% and a return on equity of 13.56%. The business had revenue of $242.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $121.99 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Ellington Financial Inc. will post 1.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ellington Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a oct 25 dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a yield of 1,172.0%. Ellington Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 125.81%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ronald I. Simon acquired 5,544 shares of Ellington Financial stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.56 per share, with a total value of $75,176.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 80,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,084,800. The trade was a 7.45% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Ellington Financial

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.