US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ:ECOL) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in 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 currently 6.8 days. Currently, 6.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.
Shares of ECOL stock traded up $0.37 on Wednesday, reaching $55.48. 112,284 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 120,645. 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 twelve month low of $53.43 and a twelve month high of $67.24. The company has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.44 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $56.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.97.
US Ecology (NASDAQ:ECOL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $167.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.25 million. US Ecology had a return on equity of 13.61% and a net margin of 8.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that US Ecology will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. US Ecology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.03%.
A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group set a $63.00 price objective on US Ecology and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of US Ecology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. BidaskClub cut shares of US Ecology from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, ValuEngine cut shares of US Ecology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th.
A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Zazove Associates LLC acquired a new position in US Ecology in the fourth quarter valued at $11,283,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co purchased a new position in shares of US Ecology during the fourth quarter worth about $87,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in US Ecology by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 8,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. increased its position in US Ecology by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 278,134 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $16,107,000 after acquiring an additional 15,255 shares during the period. Finally, 6 Meridian raised its stake in US Ecology by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. 6 Meridian now owns 9,171 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.43% of the company’s stock.
About US Ecology
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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