Embecta Corp. (NASDAQ:EMBC) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Embecta Corp. (NASDAQ:EMBC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 2,230,000 shares, a growth of 35.2% from the February 13th total of 1,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 483,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.6 days. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Embecta news, Director Milton Mayo Morris sold 3,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.38, for a total transaction of $50,778.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 36,133 shares in the company, valued at $591,858.54. This trade represents a 7.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Garden State Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Embecta in the 3rd quarter worth $438,000. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Embecta by 41.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 97,930 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,381,000 after buying an additional 28,523 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Embecta in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $594,000. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in Embecta by 156.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 176,487 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,488,000 after acquiring an additional 107,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Embecta by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,387,273 shares of the company’s stock worth $19,564,000 after acquiring an additional 45,228 shares during the last quarter. 93.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on EMBC. BTIG Research upgraded Embecta from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Embecta from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $13.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Monday, December 2nd.

Embecta Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ EMBC traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $13.54. The stock had a trading volume of 218,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 416,645. The firm has a market cap of $786.90 million, a P/E ratio of 13.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.27. Embecta has a fifty-two week low of $9.93 and a fifty-two week high of $21.48. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $16.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $16.48.

Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.20. Embecta had a net margin of 5.25% and a negative return on equity of 19.22%. Equities analysts expect that Embecta will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Embecta Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. Embecta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.00%.

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.