Emerald (NYSE:EEX) Shares Up 8.5% – Should You Buy?

Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE:EEX) shares traded up 8.5% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $4.39 and last traded at $4.4150. 11,852 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average session volume of 38,491 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.07.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on EEX. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Emerald in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $7.70 price target on shares of Emerald in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $7.70.

Emerald Stock Down 2.0%

The company has a market cap of $872.78 million, a PE ratio of -29.40 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $4.63 and a 200-day moving average of $4.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Emerald (NYSE:EEX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, March 13th. The company reported ($0.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.19). Emerald had a negative return on equity of 8.24% and a negative net margin of 6.62%.The business had revenue of $132.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.00 million.

Emerald Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 23rd will be paid a $0.015 dividend. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 23rd. Emerald’s payout ratio is currently -40.00%.

Institutional Trading of Emerald

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in Emerald by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 106,868 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 16,801 shares during the last quarter. MSD Partners L.P. increased its position in shares of Emerald by 31.3% during the 4th quarter. MSD Partners L.P. now owns 1,400,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,260,000 after purchasing an additional 333,701 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Emerald by 127.0% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 6,957 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 3,892 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Research Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Emerald by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Advisory Research Inc. now owns 1,789,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,998,000 after buying an additional 13,015 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position in Emerald by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 241,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,080,000 after buying an additional 2,394 shares during the last quarter. 14.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Emerald Company Profile

Emerald (NYSE: EEX) is a global provider of independent data, news and analytics for commodity, financial and energy markets. The company operates digital platforms that deliver real-time and historical price assessments, market commentary, research reports and risk-management tools. Its subscriber base spans traders, asset managers, corporate hedgers and financial institutions seeking timely intelligence to support trading, risk management and investment decisions.

Serving clients across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Emerald covers a broad range of markets including metals, energy products, agriculture, freight, environmental emissions and treasury benchmarks.