Emerald (NYSE:EEX) Shares Up 3.5% – Should You Buy?

Emerald Holding, Inc. (NYSE:EEX) shot up 3.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $4.40 and last traded at $4.46. 4,885 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 96,549 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.31.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on EEX. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $7.70 price target on shares of Emerald in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Emerald from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Emerald in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.70.

Emerald Trading Up 1.4%

The company has a market cap of $864.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 145.72 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.69.

Emerald (NYSE:EEX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.03). Emerald had a net margin of 1.05% and a return on equity of 1.20%. The company had revenue of $77.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.80 million.

Emerald Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 10th were given a dividend of $0.015 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Emerald’s payout ratio is 200.00%.

Institutional Trading of Emerald

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in shares of Emerald during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey purchased a new stake in Emerald during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. purchased a new position in Emerald in the 2nd quarter valued at $61,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Emerald in the 1st quarter valued at $78,000. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Emerald by 16.4% in the 2nd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 19,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 2,718 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 14.90% of the company’s stock.

About Emerald

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.