Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) Short Interest Up 28.0% in April

Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,100,000 shares, a growth of 28.0% from the March 31st total of 1,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 766,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days. Approximately 1.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Susan F. Ward sold 24,436 shares of Ecovyst 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 sale, the director now owns 67,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,794.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ecovyst

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecovyst during the fourth quarter worth about $78,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Ecovyst during the 3rd quarter valued at about $88,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ecovyst by 27.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 2,856 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Ecovyst during the third quarter valued at approximately $147,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Ecovyst during the 4th quarter valued at $150,000. 86.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Ecovyst Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of ECVT stock opened at $9.95 on Tuesday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $9.97 and a 200 day moving average of $9.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 1.01. Ecovyst has a 1-year low of $8.26 and a 1-year high of $12.35.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $172.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.31 million. Ecovyst had a net margin of 10.30% and a return on equity of 11.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecovyst will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecovyst Company Profile

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.