Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,780,000 shares, a drop of 6.4% from the September 30th total of 2,970,000 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,090,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Insider Transactions at Ecovyst

In other news, insider Paul Whittleston purchased 7,800 shares of Ecovyst stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $6.50 per share, for a total transaction of $50,700.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 57,542 shares in the company, valued at $374,023. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Ecovyst news, insider Paul Whittleston purchased 7,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $6.50 per share, with a total value of $50,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 57,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $374,023. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Joseph S. Koscinski acquired 4,807 shares of Ecovyst stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $6.26 per share, with a total value of $30,091.82. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 544,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,409,252.34. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.59% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecovyst

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECVT. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ecovyst by 3.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,210,855 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,711,000 after purchasing an additional 234,824 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Ecovyst by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,152,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,292,000 after buying an additional 49,413 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ecovyst by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 5,026,022 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,040,000 after acquiring an additional 178,001 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ecovyst by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,650,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,702,000 after acquiring an additional 334,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecovyst by 84.6% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,756,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,031,000 after acquiring an additional 805,128 shares during the period. 86.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Ecovyst from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Ecovyst from $13.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Ecovyst from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, BWS Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price target on shares of Ecovyst in a research note on Friday.

Ecovyst Stock Up 14.6 %

Ecovyst stock opened at $7.63 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Ecovyst has a 1-year low of $6.02 and a 1-year high of $11.35. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.13. The company has a market capitalization of $888.67 million, a P/E ratio of 15.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.01.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $182.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.79 million. Ecovyst had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 8.14%. Ecovyst’s quarterly revenue was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecovyst will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.