Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) Trading 8.7% Higher

Shares of Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) traded up 8.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $10.57 and last traded at $10.34. 356,625 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 721,678 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.51.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ecovyst Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Susan F. Ward sold 24,436 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly 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 SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecovyst

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ecovyst by 11.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,795,380 shares of the company’s stock worth $106,227,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,473 shares in the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 1.0% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,824,212 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,904,000 after buying an additional 266,615 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 0.3% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,113,232 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,013,000 after buying an additional 15,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 4.0% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,370,609 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,167,000 after buying an additional 130,210 shares in the last quarter. 86.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.