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Our positioning with respect to MSRs and investing in higher coupon RMBS played a pivotal role in our favor, helping to offset the impact of the flattening yield curve. As we look out towards the remainder of the year, we believe that the Fed will need to maintain its current posture longer than markets expect due to persistent inflationary data along with strong employment numbers. We do expect a twist in the yield curve eventually and are positioned for shorter maturity rates to move lower, resulting in a positively sloped curve. Given that the Fed is primarily driving market sentiment, we will continue to watch economic indicators intently and believe our overall strategy of pairing MSRs with Agency RMBS works well in the current environment.

For the first quarter, we generated GAAP net income applicable to common stockholders of $0.32 per diluted share and we generated earnings available for distribution or EAD, a non-GAAP financial measure of $4 million or $0.13 per share. EAD is just one factor we consider in setting our dividend policy. We also consider the existing market environment, portfolio return potential, our level of taxable income including hedge gain impacts and a degree of certainty regarding forward investment return economics. Thus, while EAD may continue to remain under our dividend level in the near-term, we believe other factors are important when considering whether we can sustainably cover our dividend. Book value per common share finished the quarter at $4.49, down modestly from December 31st as our portfolio positioning, particularly with respect to MSRs and higher coupon RMBS, helped offset the impact of the flattening yield curve.

On an NAV basis, which includes preferred stock in the calculation, NAV was down approximately 0.5% relative to December 31st. Financial leverage at the end of the quarter rose slightly to 4.5 times as we continue to stay prudently levered given that volatile market dynamics persist. We ended the quarter with $48 million of unrestricted cash on the balance sheet, maintaining a solid liquidity profile. As we’ve discussed previously, while our financial leverage has stayed relatively low, our capital structure leverage consisting of our mix of common to preferred equity amplifies how changes in our NAV or total equity impacts our common book value per share. During the quarter, we began to act on one of our top priorities of creating a more stable equity profile by repurchasing a portion of our Series B Preferred shares.

As of May 3rd, we have repurchased approximately $9.3 million of Series B Preferred shares and we expect that will continue in the days and months ahead. The repurchase of Series B Preferred shares benefits common shareholders by ultimately reducing the amount we pay for preferred dividends now that the Series B has transitioned to a floating rate, as well as right-sizing our capital structure and putting it more in line with peers. We will continue to work towards stabilizing our equity profile while remaining mindful of our balance sheet strength and our investment portfolio. I did want to take a moment to share that recently we announced that our Board of Directors established a Special Committee to explore strategic alternatives to maximize stockholder value.

We do not intend to discuss on these quarterly earnings call or any subsequent call any information or developments relating to the Special Committee or its process until the evaluation of strategic alternatives has been completed or the Special Committee determines disclosure is appropriate or legally required. Looking ahead, we continue to pay close attention to the ever-evolving macro environment and further focus on risk management. We will continue to selectively deploy capital into additional Agency RMBS, which still presents a strong risk-adjusted return profile and will continue to reduce the portion of preferred equity in our capital structure to provide greater stability of our equity profile for the ultimate benefit of common shareholders while not sacrificing our strong liquidity and leverage.

With that, I’ll turn the call over to Julian, who will cover more details regarding our investment portfolio and its performance over the first quarter.

Julian Evans: Thank you, Jay. We have been positioned for a higher for longer environment for some time now. While the interest rate rally at the end of 2023 impacted our book value, we have held relatively firm in that position given the economic and inflationary data we were seeing that supported our thesis. Throughout the first quarter inflation remained elevated, and just as quickly as the Fed shifted its tone towards rate cuts, the recent data has compelled the Fed to begin dialing back from that aggressive language. In the quarter, rate rose, spread fluctuated and our positioning with respect to the MSR and higher coupon RMBS enabled us to preserve book value. We continue to watch how the Fed reacts to macro data, as ongoing volatility requires us to pay significantly close attention to ensure that the portfolio is optimally positioned.

We will further proactively adjust our portfolio if necessary, as we move forward. At quarter end, our MSR portfolio had a UPB of $19.6 billion and a market value of approximately $250 million. The MSR and related assets represented approximately 44% of our equity capital and approximately 28% of our investable assets, excluding cash at the end of the quarter. Meanwhile, our RMBS portfolio accounted for approximately 41% of our equity capital. As a percentage of investable assets, the RMBS portfolio represented approximately 72% excluding cash at year end. Prepayment speeds for MSR and RMBS portfolios continue to remain relatively steady compared to the prior quarter, given the elevated mortgage rate environment. Our MSR portfolios net CPR averaged approximately 3.9% for the first quarter, modestly down from 4.2% net CPR in the previous quarter.

The portfolios recapture rate remained consistent, but low at approximately 1% as the incentive to refinance continues to be minimal. Moving forward, we continue to expect low recapture rates and a stable net CPR at least in near-term. The RMBS portfolios prepayment speeds remained low as expected, driven by the combination of new asset purchases, as well as the current higher mortgage rate environment, continuing to compress CPR for the existing portfolio. As of today, the majority of the mortgage universe remains out of the money in terms of refinancing. We would expect prepayments to remain low as long as interest rates remain at these levels. For the quarter, the RMBS portfolios weighted average three-month CPR was slightly higher to approximately 5.2%, compared to approximately 4.9% in the fourth quarter.

As of March 31st, the RMBS portfolio, inclusive of TBAs, stood at approximately $654 million, relatively flat compared to the previous quarter end. Quarter-over-quarter, we acquired additional RMBS higher coupon mortgages and increase some of our TBA hedges in the portfolio as we remain positions to protect against additional spread widening. For the first quarter, our RMBS net interest spread was 3.42%. Reduction from the prior quarter was driven by a reduction in dollar roll income and higher repo costs, due to higher repo balances. As Jay mentioned, the portfolio’s financial leverage stood at approximately 4.5 times and the 30-year securities position continues to represent 100% of the RMBS portfolio at quarter end. Moving forward, we expect investment markets to remain volatile in the near-term.

With upcoming Fed decisions being driven by persistent inflation. In this volatile environment, we will proactively manage our portfolio through the volatility, while continuing to shift our overall capital structure to add value for shareholders through improve performance and earnings. I will now turn the call over to Mike for our first quarter financial discussion.

Michael Hutchby: Thank you, Julian. GAAP net income applicable to common stockholders for the first quarter was $9.7 million or $0.32 per weighted average diluted share outstanding during the quarter. While comprehensive income attributable to common stockholders, which includes the mark-to-market of our available for sale RMBS was $3.2 million or $0.11 per weighted average diluted share. Our earnings available for distribution attributable to common stockholders were $4 million or $0.13 per share. EAD is inclusive of approximately $400,000 or about a penny a share of expenses related to Special Committee work. Our book value per common share as of March 31st was $4.49, compared to a book value of $4.53 at December 31, 2023.

We use a variety of derivative instruments to mitigate the effects of increases in interest rates on a portion of our future repurchase borrowings. At the end of the first quarter, we held interest rate swaps, TBAs and treasury futures, all of which had a combined notional amount of approximately $968 million. You can see more details with respect to our hedging strategy in our 10-Q, as well as in our first quarter presentation. For GAAP purposes, we’ve not elected to apply hedge accounting for our interest rate derivatives, and as a result, we record the change in estimated fair value as a component of the net gain or loss on interest rate derivatives. Our operating expenses were $3.6 million for the quarter. On March 14, 2024, the Board of Directors declared a dividend of $0.15 per common share for the first quarter of the year, which was paid in cash on April 30, 2024.

We also declared a dividend of $0.5125 per share on our 8.2% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock and a dividend of $0.515625 on our 8.25% Series B Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, both of which were paid on April 15, 2024. At this time, we will open up the call for questions. Operator?

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