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

Embecta Corp. (NASDAQ:EMBC) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 5,617,135 shares, a growth of 19.4% from the February 26th total of 4,703,024 shares. Approximately 9.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 859,291 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.5 days.

Embecta Stock Performance

Embecta stock remained flat at $8.84 on Tuesday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,044,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 830,068. Embecta has a fifty-two week low of $8.47 and a fifty-two week high of $15.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $523.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.73 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $10.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.11.

Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $261.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $258.07 million. Embecta had a net margin of 12.92% and a negative return on equity of 26.66%. The company’s revenue was down .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.65 EPS. Embecta has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.800-3.00 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Embecta will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Embecta Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.8%. Embecta’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 25.32%.

Institutional Trading of Embecta

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Embecta by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 12,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its position in shares of Embecta by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 19,736 shares of the company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its stake in shares of Embecta by 5.4% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 21,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Embecta by 2.4% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 49,323 shares of the company’s stock worth $629,000 after buying an additional 1,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Embecta by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 150,271 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,785,000 after buying an additional 1,520 shares during the last quarter. 93.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Embecta from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Embecta in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Embecta in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

About Embecta

Embecta Corp (NASDAQ: EMBC) is a pure-play diabetes care company that was spun off from Becton, Dickinson and Company on July 1, 2021. Headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, Embecta focuses exclusively on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of products that enable insulin delivery and blood glucose monitoring for people with diabetes.

The company’s product portfolio includes insulin infusion sets, durable and patch pumps, pen needles, infusion tubing, blood glucose test strips, lancets and lancing devices.