
Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund Ltd. is a closed-ended equity mutual fund launched by GAMCO Investors, Inc. The fund is managed by Gabelli Funds, LLC. It invests in the public equity markets. The fund primarily invests in convertible securities. It invests in stocks of companies across market capitalizations. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Bank of America Merrill Lynch All U.S. Convertibles Index, Barclays Balanced U.S. Convertibles Index, and S&P 500 Index. It was formerly known as Ellsworth Fund Ltd. Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund Ltd. was formed on June 27, 1986 and is domiciled in the United States.
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The Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund Preferred currently trades below par, offering a compelling yield-to-worst of nearly 7.2%. ECF-A's lagging recovery relative to iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF and Vanguard Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF, driven by lower liquidity, creates a tactical alpha opportunity as spreads are expected to narrow. Robust asset coverage, mandated by the Investment Company Act of 1940, provides structural protection and enhances the risk/income profile for ECF-A holders.

CEFs fell this week: 7 of 26 sectors rose on price (average -0.88%) and 12 of 26 on NAV (average -0.30%); munis led while convertibles lagged. DMA announced a buyback and +2.2% distribution raise as it entered its term measurement period; ASGI's rights offering was about 34% subscribed at $19.28. At the fund level, NMS (+5.11%) led on price and KF fell the most (-15.39%); on NAV, BGR (+4.62%) led while KF dropped -16.09%.

Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund Ltd. (NYSEAMERICAN:ECF - Get Free Report) major shareholder Saba Capital Management, L.P. purchased 9,969 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.62 per share, with a total value of $115,839.78. Following the completion of the transaction,

The Ellsworth Growth and Income Fund offers a 7.43% yield and has outperformed both convertible bonds and the S&P 500 over the past few years. ECF primarily invests in convertible bonds, providing better real wealth preservation than traditional bonds, especially in inflationary environments. The fund's portfolio is notably diversified and overweight in energy, utilities, and healthcare, differing from typical equity and convertible bond indices.

Closed-end funds can often be quite interesting to income-focused investors as they pay out relatively higher distribution yields. Another key factor is that the funds can trade at discount/premiums to the net asset value per share. While some funds perpetually trade at deep discounts, there are reasons to believe that some don't deserve to.