Ellington Financial (EFC) Stock: Dividend, Book Value (2026)

The dividend against the company’s own earnings measure

A quote page shows the price and the yield. The filings show what the dividend is paid out of. Ellington reports GAAP net income and a non-GAAP measure it calls Adjusted Distributable Earnings. The company says ADE is “a useful indicator of both current and projected long-term financial performance,” and also warns that it “excludes certain items that may impact the amount of cash that is actually available for distribution.” ADE leaves out realized and unrealized gains and losses (other than periodic swap settlements), the incentive fee to the manager, other items “of a non-recurring nature,” and it swaps in the operating income of certain unconsolidated entities. The company also says its calculation “may differ from the calculation of similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures by our peers,” so the number is not comparable across companies.

The first three rows are the reason the dividend was cut. The fourth-quarter 2023 release says management “expects to recommend to our board of directors a reduction of the monthly dividend from $0.15 to $0.13 per share, beginning in March.” The rate has stayed at $0.13 through the October 7, 2026 declaration. The Q1 2024 dividend of $0.43 is two months at $0.15 and one at $0.13 (our arithmetic).

The sums are ours: ADE per share adds the four quarterly figures, which use quarterly average shares. The company’s own statement for the first half of 2026 is that it “generated ADE of $1.15, comfortably covering dividends of $0.78,” and that its annualized economic return was 20%. Our arithmetic on the same numbers is that book value plus dividends rose 9.3% in six months (from $13.16 to $13.61 plus $0.78, not annualized). Over the ten quarters from Q1 2024 to Q2 2026, dividends per share added to $3.94, and book value change plus dividends was 26.9% of the $13.83 starting book value (simple, no reinvestment, our arithmetic).

From GAAP to ADE: what is in the gap

In Q2 2026 GAAP net income to common was $54.4 million and ADE $75.5 million. In Q1 2026 it was the other way: GAAP $95.5 million, ADE $66.5 million. The Q1 GAAP number included $17.0 million of litigation settlement income in the Longbridge segment, which the ADE reconciliation removes, and a $19.2 million incentive fee to the manager, which ADE also adds back. The second-quarter incentive fee was $0.9 million.

In the second quarter the Corporate/Other segment lost more in GAAP terms because of “a substantial unrealized loss on our unsecured debt,” which the company ties to credit spreads tightening. That is a fair-value mark on the company’s own notes and is outside ADE. The investment portfolio’s net interest margin was 3.36% against 3.37% in the prior quarter.

Book value, month by month

Ellington files an 8-K with an estimated book value most months. These are unaudited and the company can revise them at the quarter close. We saved the 19 releases below; we did not find a separate release for April or June 2025.

At the six quarter-ends where we can compare an estimate with the book value the company later reported (December 2024, March 2025, September 2025, December 2025, March 2026 and June 2026), the two figures are the same (our comparison). The next estimate, for September 30, 2026, was not out on October 19; last year the matching release came on October 23, 2025, before the quarterly results (our inference for timing).

For a reader who thinks in price terms, the arithmetic is simple and does not need a quote. At the latest declared rate the annual dividend is $1.56. At a price of $11, that is 14.2%; at $12, 13.0%; at $13, 12.0%. Against $13.62 of estimated book value, those prices are 0.81, 0.88 and 0.95 times book (all our arithmetic, with hypothetical prices). The company’s own earnings releases quoted closing prices for its yield line through August 2025: $12.72 on August 6, 2025, a 12.3% yield. This page does not carry a current price.

A share count up 54%

Quarter changes are our arithmetic from the balance sheets in the earnings releases. Total equity includes preferred stock and non-controlling interests. On January 28, 2026 the company completed a follow-on offering of 8,775,000 shares with net proceeds of $117.2 million. Through its at-the-market program it issued 5,517,521 shares in the first half of 2026 for $74.8 million net (2,782,358 shares and $37.4 million in Q2), against 7,178,788 shares and $95.3 million in the first half of 2025. $419.9 million of the $500.0 million program remained at June 30, 2026. The manager also receives shares: 161,934 were issued in the second quarter of 2026 in connection with an incentive fee payment.

On repurchases, the 10-Q says “No shares were repurchased” in either of the second quarters of 2026 and 2025, and that $45.1 million remained under the $50 million plan adopted in March 2023.

Preferred stock went the other way. The company redeemed all of its 6.750% Series A preferred on February 27, 2026 at the $25.00 liquidation preference. Preferred shares outstanding fell from 13,800,089 to 9,200,089 and the aggregate liquidation preference from $345.0 million to $230.0 million. Preferred dividends were $4.2 million in Q2 2026. Book value per share is stockholders’ equity less the aggregate liquidation preference of the preferred stock.

Debt: 1.9 to 1, and 9.2 to 1

At June 30, 2026 recourse borrowings were $3,984.0 million and non-recourse borrowings $14,509.1 million, $18,493.1 million in all, against total equity of $1,999.4 million. The company says 29% of its recourse borrowings are long-term and not subject to mark-to-market margin calls and 17% are unsecured; the weighted average remaining term of repo borrowings is 9.3 months. Unencumbered assets were $1.86 billion, of which $247.5 million was cash. The largest liability on the balance sheet is not debt in the ordinary sense: $11.06 billion of HMBS-related obligations, which come from pooling reverse mortgages and sit against $11.18 billion of HMBS assets.

The ladder of contractual maturities in the 10-Q shows $4,403.2 million falling due in the next twelve months: $2,206.8 million of repo (72% of repo, our arithmetic), $476.0 million of other secured borrowings, $1,472.7 million of HMBS-related obligations (expected repayments from the underlying loans) and $247.8 million of unsecured notes (the $210.0 million 5.875% notes and the $37.8 million 6.00% notes). The repo is usually rolled; the 10-Q says it expects amounts due “will be funded primarily through the roll/re-initiation of repos.”

The September 2026 8-Ks add one line to that picture. On September 14 the company priced an add-on of 7.375% senior unsecured notes due 2030, upsized from $100 million to $150 million, and the offering closed on September 17. Together with the $400 million sold on October 6, 2025, that makes $550 million of those notes (our arithmetic). Proceeds are for general corporate purposes, “including repaying a portion of the borrowings under the Company’s outstanding repurchase agreements.” We found no filing on what happened to the $37.8 million of August 2026 notes after June 30.

Credit: what the loans look like

Of the $5.93 billion, $1.43 billion is non-retained tranches of securitization trusts that Ellington consolidates; excluding those, the “adjusted” long portfolio was $4.50 billion. The 10-Q describes credit this way: “Credit performance in our loan businesses remained strong, with continued low life-to-date realized credit losses across both our residential and commercial loan portfolios.” The delinquency and non-accrual series below is from the footnotes and tables of the 10-Qs and 10-Ks.

Commercial non-accrual loans have more than doubled since the end of 2024 (from $37.6 million to $85.5 million, our arithmetic) and peaked at $103.7 million at September 30, 2025. At June 30, 2026 the commercial book was $1,034.9 million of unpaid principal at a weighted average coupon of 8.75% (excluding non-accrual loans); $91.7 million of principal, 8% of fair value, was 90 or more days delinquent. The company held three commercial properties acquired in foreclosure (REO) at $19.3 million directly, and its share of two more held in co-investments was about $52.1 million. Residential delinquency of $211.8 million of $3,638.3 million of principal is 5.8%.

Multifamily has fallen from 63.3% of the commercial book at December 31, 2024 to 59.8%, and New York and Florida together hold half of it (50.1%, our arithmetic). The largest residential exposures at June 30, 2026 were $2,504.4 million of non-QM loans and $917.4 million of residential transition (fix-and-flip style) loans at unpaid principal. Our non-QM loans page lists this same $2,504,381 thousand as Ellington’s holding; that is unpaid principal, and the fair value in the 10-Q is $2,400.5 million.

Longbridge: the part that is not a mortgage REIT

Ellington owns Longbridge Financial, a reverse mortgage originator and servicer, and consolidates it. In the second quarter it originated $589.7 million of loans (46% HECM, 54% proprietary reverse mortgages), up 38% from the same quarter of 2025 by the company’s count, and the company says its HMBS market share reached a record 29%, the number two issuer according to Bloomberg. Longbridge’s net portfolio, excluding non-retained tranches, fell from $695.1 million to $649.3 million after two proprietary securitizations. Longbridge earned $30.2 million to common in GAAP terms and $28.9 million of ADE, 27.6% of the two operating segments’ ADE (our arithmetic). The company also reports gains on “enterprise interest rate hedges” intended to protect origination profits if rates rise.

The manager, the fees and the tax bill

Ellington is externally managed. It pays its manager a base management fee of 1.50% a year of the Operating Partnership’s equity and an incentive fee of 25% of Adjusted Net Income above a hurdle, measured over a rolling four quarters. The incentive fee was $4.5 million in 2025 and none in 2024; it was $19.2 million in Q1 2026 and $0.9 million in Q2 2026 (first half $20.1 million), and the manager has also received shares in connection with an incentive fee payment.

Your Form 1099-DIV governs. The table is for common and preferred dividends together, as reported in the 10-K.

What changed in the latest quarter

• Earnings rose and coverage widened. ADE went from $0.55 to $0.60 a share, GAAP from $0.78 to $0.43, and book value from $13.56 to $13.61.
• The share count grew 2.9 million, all through the at-the-market program except the manager’s share payment; there was no follow-on in the quarter.
• Leverage moved a little. Recourse debt-to-equity stayed at 1.9 to 1; total rose from 9.0 to 9.2 on securitization debt.
• Commercial non-accruals rose from $69.8 million to $85.5 million, residential delinquency edged up from 5.6% to 5.8%.
• Longbridge originations rose 14.4% from $515.4 million to $589.7 million quarter over quarter (our arithmetic).
• Since June 30: another $0.13 declared for each of July, August, September and October; the August 31 book value estimate was $13.62; the $150 million notes add-on closed on September 17.

When the next filing arrives

As of October 19, 2026 the 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026 is not filed, and the last SEC filing by Ellington was the October 7 dividend 8-K. We found no announcement of the Q3 results date. In the past the release came on November 6, 2024 and November 5, 2025 with the 10-Q on November 12, 2024 and November 10, 2025; for Q2 2026 the 8-K was filed August 7 and the 10-Q August 10. On that pattern the Q3 10-Q should land in the second week of November 2026 (our inference from past dates, not a company statement). The monthly book value estimate for September 30 and the November dividend declaration may come first.

How EFC compares with the other pages

Ellington is a credit REIT with a mortgage operating company inside it, and its closest neighbours on our site are MFA Financial, whose non-QM loans and delinquency are the nearest comparison, and Annaly, which pays out of agency bonds and a credit book. For the commercial loans Ellington holds, our commercial mortgage REIT page puts nine listed lenders side by side on non-accruals. If you are weighing a listed vehicle against a non-traded one that holds real estate, our page on non-traded REITs against publicly traded REITs explains the difference in pricing and liquidity; Ellington itself is listed on the NYSE and its book value is its own valuation of loans, not an appraisal of buildings.

What a shareholder can do with this

• Read coverage both ways. Per share, ADE was 1.54 times the dividend in Q2; in dollars 1.53. Over the last four quarters 1.38. In 2024 it was 0.91. The margin now depends on loan income holding up and on Longbridge staying strong.
• Check four numbers in the Q3 10-Q: ADE against $0.39, book value against $13.61, commercial non-accruals against $85.5 million and the share count against 127.6 million.
• Treat issuance as part of the story. The count rose 30.3% in a year (97.9 million to 127.6 million, our arithmetic). Book value held because shares were sold at or above it; that depends on the price staying there.
• Look at maturities. $2.2 billion of repo is contractually due within twelve months and $247.8 million of unsecured notes were due by April 2027 at June 30.
• Mind the tax line. 32.5% of 2025 distributions were return of capital.
• Price is outside this page. This page does not say whether to buy, hold or sell. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.

If you want to know when Ellington files again, the alert below emails you when it does. Ellington Financial Inc. (CIK 1411342) filed its most recent document on EDGAR on October 7, 2026 (an 8-K declaring the dividend); the Q3 results are not yet dated.

FAQ

Sources, read and saved on October 19, 2026: Ellington Financial Inc. (CIK 1411342) earnings releases (Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1) for Q4 2023 (accession 0001411342-24-000016), Q1 2024 (0001411342-24-000050), Q2 2024 (0001411342-24-000073), Q3 2024 (0001411342-24-000107), Q4 2024 (0001411342-25-000009), Q1 2025 (0001411342-25-000047), Q2 2025 (0001411342-25-000073), Q3 2025 (0001628280-25-049702), Q4 2025 (0001628280-26-011887), Q1 2026 (0001628280-26-030664) and Q2 2026 (0001628280-26-054500); Forms 10-Q 0001411342-25-000052, 0001411342-25-000077, 0001628280-25-051038, 0001628280-26-033463 and 0001628280-26-055148; Forms 10-K 0001411342-25-000015 and 0001628280-26-013279; 19 monthly estimated book value releases (Form 8-K Item 7.01, January 2025 to September 2026); monthly dividend 8-Ks (Item 8.01, January 2025 to October 2026); Forms 8-K 0001628280-26-003730 (Series A redemption), 0001628280-26-061716, 0001628280-26-061854 and 0001628280-26-062533 (September 2026 notes); EDGAR filing list for CIK 1411342 read October 19, 2026. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.