US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ:ECOL) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 13th, there was short interest totalling 1,160,000 shares, an increase of 10.5% from the November 28th total of 1,050,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 171,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.8 days. Currently, 6.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold.
ECOL traded down $1.24 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $54.23. 135,915 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 147,946. US Ecology has a twelve month low of $53.48 and a twelve month high of $67.24. The company has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.38 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.11.
US Ecology (NASDAQ:ECOL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $167.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.25 million. US Ecology had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 13.61%. The company’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that US Ecology will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. US Ecology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.03%.
Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of US Ecology by 20.0% in the second quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,238 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in US Ecology during the first quarter valued at $77,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in US Ecology by 27.4% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 1,476 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. First Mercantile Trust Co. boosted its position in US Ecology by 13.5% during the second quarter. First Mercantile Trust Co. now owns 1,510 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Usca Ria LLC bought a new stake in US Ecology during the third quarter valued at $128,000. 89.45% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Several brokerages recently issued reports on ECOL. BidaskClub cut US Ecology from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. ValuEngine cut US Ecology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Zacks Investment Research upgraded US Ecology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group set a $63.00 price target on US Ecology and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st.
US Ecology Company Profile
US Ecology, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides environmental services to commercial and government entities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It operates through two segments, Environmental Services, and Field & Industrial Services. The Environmental Services segment offers hazardous material management services, including transportation, recycling, treatment, and disposal of hazardous, non-hazardous, and radioactive waste at its landfill, wastewater, deep-well injection, and other treatment facilities.
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