Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE:EEX) Short Interest Up 196.3% in May

Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE:EEX) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 780,404 shares, an increase of 196.3% from the April 30th total of 263,343 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,067,868 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

EEX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Maxim Group downgraded shares of Emerald from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $5.03 price objective (down from $7.70) on shares of Emerald in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Emerald in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $5.03.

Institutional Trading of Emerald

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Emerald by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 37,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $168,000 after buying an additional 18,600 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC bought a new stake in shares of Emerald during the 1st quarter worth about $48,000. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Emerald by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 110,725 shares of the company’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 3,857 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Emerald by 37.4% during the 1st quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 20,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $93,000 after buying an additional 5,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MSD Partners L.P. raised 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 worth $6,260,000 after buying an additional 333,701 shares in the last quarter. 14.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Emerald Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Emerald stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $4.99. The company had a trading volume of 58,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 723,836. The company has a market cap of $987.57 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.26 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $4.75 and its 200-day moving average is $4.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. Emerald has a fifty-two week low of $3.32 and a fifty-two week high of $5.45.

Emerald (NYSE:EEX) last issued its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $155.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $155.40 million. Emerald had a negative net margin of 8.24% and a negative return on equity of 10.81%.

Emerald Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.015 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Emerald’s payout ratio is currently -31.58%.

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.