Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) Stock Bumped Down to Hold by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Ecovyst to “Hold” from “Buy,” although analyst sentiment remains a “Moderate Buy” overall with an average price target of $14.62.
• Ecovyst reported quarterly adjusted earnings of $0.21 per share, exceeding estimates of $0.19, while revenue rose 24.9% year over year to $249.96 million.
• The stock opened at $10.07, well below its 52-week high of $15.09. Director Patti Humble purchased nearly 24,875 shares, and institutional investors own 86.69% of the company.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

ECVT has been the topic of several other reports. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Ecovyst to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. BWS Financial restated a "buy" rating and issued a $16.00 target price on shares of Ecovyst in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of Ecovyst in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ecovyst in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ecovyst in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $14.62.

Ecovyst Stock Performance

Ecovyst stock opened at $10.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.01, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.16. Ecovyst has a 52 week low of $7.41 and a 52 week high of $15.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.02. Ecovyst had a positive return on equity of 13.83% and a negative net margin of 7.05%. The firm had revenue of $249.96 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $237.54 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.12 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 24.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Ecovyst has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.580-0.720 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecovyst will post 0.60 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecovyst

In other news, Director Patti Humble bought 24,875 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $10.05 per share, for a total transaction of $249,993.75. Following the acquisition, the director owned 33,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at $341,438.70. This trade represents a 273.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.84% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ECVT. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecovyst by 701.3% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,622 shares of the company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 3,170 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its position in Ecovyst by 29.3% during the 2nd quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 102,300 shares of the company's stock worth $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 23,200 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in Ecovyst in the 2nd quarter valued at $547,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in Ecovyst in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,794,000. Finally, Compass Financial Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecovyst in the second quarter valued at about $305,000. 86.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecovyst Company Profile

Ecovyst Inc NYSE: ECVT is a global specialty catalysts and services company serving the chemical, refining, pharmaceutical and industrial markets. Its products and services are designed to support chemical processing, resource recovery and the production of fuels and other materials.

The company operates through two primary business areas. Its Ecoservices business provides sulfuric acid recycling and regeneration, virgin sulfuric acid, and related chemical services used by refineries and industrial customers.

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