US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ:ECOL) was the target of a large decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 29th, there was short interest totalling 1,050,000 shares, a decrease of 21.1% from the November 14th total of 1,330,000 shares. Currently, 6.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 158,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.6 days.
Shares of NASDAQ ECOL traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $57.29. The company had a trading volume of 188,287 shares, compared to its average volume of 154,718. The company has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.02 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. US Ecology has a one year low of $53.48 and a one year high of $67.24.
US Ecology (NASDAQ:ECOL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.01. US Ecology had a return on equity of 13.61% and a net margin of 8.22%. The company had revenue of $167.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.61 EPS. US Ecology’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that US Ecology will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. US Ecology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.03%.
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ECOL. Zacks Investment Research downgraded US Ecology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. BidaskClub cut US Ecology from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group set a $63.00 target price on US Ecology and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, ValuEngine cut US Ecology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st.
A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of US Ecology by 0.4% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,188,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,841,000 after buying an additional 11,670 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of US Ecology by 1.0% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,402,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $83,483,000 after buying an additional 13,644 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of US Ecology by 8.8% in the second quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 1,305,988 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $77,759,000 after buying an additional 106,107 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of US Ecology by 21.5% in the second quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 924,678 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,056,000 after buying an additional 163,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of US Ecology by 0.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 639,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,901,000 after buying an additional 5,939 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.44% of the company’s stock.
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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