Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $13.35 and last traded at $12.8130, with a volume of 367011 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $13.01.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on ECVT shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ecovyst in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ecovyst from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ecovyst from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. BWS Financial boosted their target price on shares of Ecovyst from $12.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Ecovyst from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $13.60.

Ecovyst Price Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.64.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $199.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.85 million. Ecovyst had a negative net margin of 9.27% and a positive return on equity of 9.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Ecovyst has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.450-0.650 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Ecovyst Inc. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ecovyst

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ECVT. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 45,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 69,105 shares of the company’s stock worth $428,000 after acquiring an additional 2,874 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 344,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,133,000 after acquiring an additional 23,951 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 954.1% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 141,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $877,000 after acquiring an additional 128,105 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Ecovyst in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $129,000. 86.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ecovyst

Ecovyst Inc is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and markets performance-enhancing products for industrial applications. The company’s core offerings include catalysts, phosphorus-based additives and barium carbonate materials, all designed to improve process efficiency, product quality and environmental performance. Ecovyst serves a diverse customer base in the energy, refining, chemical, polymer, food and consumer goods industries.

The company’s Catalysts segment supplies fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) and hydroprocessing catalysts that help petroleum refiners maximize fuel yield, reduce sulfur emissions and meet increasingly stringent environmental standards.