Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ:ECOL) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,700 shares of the business services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in US Ecology were worth $504,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. First Mercantile Trust Co. grew its holdings in US Ecology by 11.6% in the third quarter. First Mercantile Trust Co. now owns 1,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $108,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its position 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 valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of US Ecology by 27.4% in 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 in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of US Ecology by 1.2% in the third quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 34,380 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,198,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 6 Meridian lifted its position in shares of US Ecology by 5.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 89.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
ECOL opened at $54.01 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $55.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79 and a beta of 0.55. US Ecology Inc has a 12 month low of $53.37 and a 12 month high of $67.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03.
US Ecology (NASDAQ:ECOL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $167.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that US Ecology Inc will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 16th. US Ecology’s payout ratio is currently 31.03%.
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Investment Research downgraded US Ecology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. ValuEngine downgraded US Ecology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. BidaskClub downgraded US Ecology from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group set a $63.00 target price on US Ecology and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report 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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