Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on EMBC. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Embecta from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Embecta from $12.00 to $5.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research lowered shares of Embecta from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $15.00.

Embecta Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ EMBC opened at $3.64 on Friday. Embecta has a twelve month low of $3.45 and a twelve month high of $15.55. The firm has a market cap of $215.95 million, a P/E ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $8.85 and a 200 day moving average of $11.06.

Embecta (NASDAQ:EMBC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.15). Embecta had a negative return on equity of 23.96% and a net margin of 10.73%.The firm had revenue of $221.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $235.67 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. Embecta’s revenue was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. Embecta has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.550-1.75 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Embecta will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Embecta Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 28th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Embecta’s payout ratio is currently 2.11%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Embecta

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of Embecta by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 18,201 shares of the company’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 5,036 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Embecta by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 225,641 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,738,000 after buying an additional 8,109 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Embecta by 2.4% in the 1st 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 period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Embecta by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 172,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,195,000 after buying an additional 7,894 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Embecta by 224.0% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 132,688 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,692,000 after buying an additional 91,729 shares during the period. 93.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.