Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) Stock Price Down 4.2% – Should You Sell?

Embecta Corp. (NASDAQ:EMBC) shares were down 4.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $13.05 and last traded at $13.08. Approximately 109,824 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 417,738 shares. The stock had previously closed at $13.66.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Embecta from $13.00 to $12.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 15th.

Embecta Trading Down 4.5 %

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.35. The stock has a market cap of $752.59 million, a P/E ratio of 11.29 and a beta of 0.98.

Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 9th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.28. Embecta had a negative return on equity of 19.09% and a net margin of 6.23%. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Embecta Corp. will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Embecta Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 27th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. Embecta’s payout ratio is presently 49.59%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Embecta

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Embecta by 136.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 614,645 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,683,000 after purchasing an additional 354,454 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in Embecta by 95.3% during the 1st quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 643,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,536,000 after acquiring an additional 313,951 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Embecta by 2.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,213,992 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,730,000 after acquiring an additional 187,916 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new position in Embecta in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,663,000. Finally, AXA S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Embecta in the second quarter worth $1,595,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.83% of the company’s stock.

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.