Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) Receives “Buy” Rating from BWS Financial

BWS Financial reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $18.00 target price on the stock.

Separately, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ecovyst from $11.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th.

Ecovyst Price Performance

Shares of ECVT stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $9.80. The stock had a trading volume of 1,105,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 565,906. Ecovyst has a one year low of $8.26 and a one year high of $12.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.69. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $9.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.05.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.01). Ecovyst had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.70%. The company had revenue of $172.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $168.31 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Ecovyst will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ecovyst

In related news, Director Susan F. Ward sold 24,436 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.28, for a total value of $251,202.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 67,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $694,794.36. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.59% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecovyst

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ECVT. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecovyst during the fourth quarter worth $78,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Ecovyst during the third quarter worth $88,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecovyst by 27.6% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,856 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Ecovyst during the third quarter worth $147,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecovyst during the fourth quarter worth $150,000. Institutional investors own 86.69% of the company’s stock.

About Ecovyst

Ecovyst Inc offers specialty catalysts and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Ecoservices and Advanced Materials & Catalysts. The Ecoservices segment provides sulfuric acid recycling services and end-to-end logistics for production of alkylate for refineries; and virgin sulfuric acid for mining, water treatment, and industrial applications.