US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ:ECOL) saw a significant decrease in short interest in 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 daily trading volume, of 158,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.6 days.
NASDAQ ECOL opened at $57.29 on Friday. US Ecology has a twelve month low of $53.48 and a twelve month high of $67.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. The stock has a market cap of $1.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.02 and a beta of 0.55. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $55.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.39.
US Ecology (NASDAQ:ECOL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the 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 firm had revenue of $167.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.61 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that US Ecology will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company 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. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th. US Ecology’s payout ratio is 31.03%.
ECOL has been the topic of several research reports. 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 Thursday, November 21st. Zacks Investment Research cut US Ecology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, BidaskClub cut US Ecology from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th.
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of US Ecology by 377.9% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 60,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $3,897,000 after acquiring an additional 48,203 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of US Ecology by 1.2% during the 3rd 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. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of US Ecology by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 639,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $40,901,000 after acquiring an additional 5,939 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of US Ecology by 128.6% during the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 415,866 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $26,591,000 after acquiring an additional 233,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of US Ecology by 8.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 36,751 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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