BWS Financial Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT)

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by BWS Financial in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $12.00 price objective on the stock. BWS Financial’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 63.93% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also commented on ECVT. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Ecovyst from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on Ecovyst from $13.00 to $10.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th.

Ecovyst Price Performance

ECVT stock traded up $0.66 during trading on Friday, hitting $7.32. The company had a trading volume of 1,576,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 866,964. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $6.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. The company has a market cap of $852.56 million, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.01. Ecovyst has a fifty-two week low of $6.02 and a fifty-two week high of $11.35.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The company reported $0.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 8.14% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Ecovyst’s quarterly revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Ecovyst will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph S. Koscinski purchased 4,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $6.26 per share, with a total value of $30,091.82. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 544,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,409,252.34. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Joseph S. Koscinski purchased 4,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $6.26 per share, with a total value of $30,091.82. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 544,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,409,252.34. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Paul Whittleston purchased 7,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $6.50 per share, for a total transaction of $50,700.00. Following the purchase, the insider now directly owns 57,542 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $374,023. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. 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

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in 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 last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Ecovyst by 1.0% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,152,089 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,292,000 after purchasing an additional 49,413 shares during the last quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ecovyst by 3.7% in the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 5,026,022 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,040,000 after purchasing an additional 178,001 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecovyst by 10.1% in the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,650,404 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,702,000 after purchasing an additional 334,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Ecovyst by 84.6% in the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,756,363 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,031,000 after purchasing an additional 805,128 shares during the last quarter. 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.