Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ:ECOL) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in US Ecology were worth $504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECOL. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in US Ecology by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,188,445 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $189,841,000 after purchasing an additional 11,670 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in US Ecology by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,402,130 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $83,483,000 after purchasing an additional 13,644 shares in the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its holdings in US Ecology by 21.5% during the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 924,678 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $55,056,000 after purchasing an additional 163,556 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in US Ecology by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 639,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,901,000 after purchasing an additional 5,939 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its position in US Ecology by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 483,020 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $30,884,000 after purchasing an additional 36,751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.43% of the company’s stock.
Several analysts have recently commented on ECOL shares. Zacks Investment Research cut US Ecology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group set a $63.00 price target on US Ecology and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. ValuEngine cut US Ecology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, BidaskClub downgraded shares of US Ecology from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th.
Shares of ECOL stock opened at $54.55 on Friday. US Ecology Inc has a 1 year low of $53.43 and a 1 year high of $67.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $56.19 and its 200-day moving average is $59.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.03 and a beta of 0.55. 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 (NASDAQ:ECOL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.01. US Ecology had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 13.61%. The business had revenue of $167.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. US Ecology’s revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that US Ecology Inc will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were given a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. US Ecology’s payout ratio is 31.03%.
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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