Embecta Corp. (NASDAQ:EMBC) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Embecta Corp. (NASDAQ:EMBC) saw a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,830,000 shares, a growth of 13.7% from the September 30th total of 1,610,000 shares. Approximately 3.4% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 380,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Embecta

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of EMBC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Embecta by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,026,076 shares of the company’s stock valued at $133,004,000 after buying an additional 20,509 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Embecta by 205.6% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 110,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,469,000 after buying an additional 74,480 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Embecta by 15.9% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 362,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,805,000 after buying an additional 49,551 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Embecta by 12.1% in the first quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 12,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 1,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Embecta by 3.2% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 59,215 shares of the company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 1,827 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.83% of the company’s stock.

Embecta Stock Performance

Shares of Embecta stock traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $14.47. 211,540 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 409,283. Embecta has a 1 year low of $9.93 and a 1 year high of $19.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $14.56 and its 200 day moving average is $13.46. The firm has a market cap of $834.48 million, a PE ratio of 12.02 and a beta of 0.98.

Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.28. Embecta had a negative return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 6.23%. The business had revenue of $272.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $267.44 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.69 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Embecta will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Embecta Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 27th. Embecta’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.59%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Embecta from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 15th.

About Embecta

Embecta Corp., a medical device company, focuses on the provision of various solutions to enhance the health and wellbeing of people living with diabetes. Its products include pen needles, syringes, and safety injection devices, as well as digital applications to assist people with managing patient's diabetes.