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

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at BWS Financial in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $18.00 price target on the stock. BWS Financial’s price objective points to a potential upside of 83.77% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Ecovyst from $11.50 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th.

Ecovyst Stock Down 2.0 %

ECVT traded down $0.20 during trading on Friday, hitting $9.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,105,528 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,555. Ecovyst has a 1-year low of $8.26 and a 1-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 company has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average of $9.96 and a 200-day moving average of $9.62.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $172.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.31 million. Ecovyst had a net margin of 10.30% and a return on equity of 11.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecovyst will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Ecovyst by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,113,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,013,000 after acquiring an additional 15,190 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecovyst in the first quarter worth about $3,581,000. Paragon Associates & Paragon Associates II Joint Venture lifted its holdings in Ecovyst by 200.0% in the fourth quarter. Paragon Associates & Paragon Associates II Joint Venture now owns 300,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,931,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares during the period. Grizzlyrock Capital LLC bought a new position in Ecovyst in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,895,000. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ecovyst by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 6,661,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,084,000 after buying an additional 66,310 shares during the period. 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.