Short Interest in Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) Expands By 23.5%

Ecovyst Inc. (NYSE:ECVT) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,460,000 shares, an increase of 23.5% from the March 31st total of 3,610,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 953,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.7 days. Currently, 4.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Ecovyst Trading Up 6.6 %

ECVT stock opened at $6.60 on Friday. Ecovyst has a 52-week low of $5.24 and a 52-week high of $10.16. The company has a quick ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $774.75 million, a P/E ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $7.20.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $0.04. Ecovyst had a return on equity of 7.07% and a net margin of 7.74%. The business had revenue of $162.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecovyst will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,926,133 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,476,000 after purchasing an additional 56,142 shares during the last quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ecovyst by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC now owns 4,830,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,903,000 after acquiring an additional 868,397 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Ecovyst by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,601,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,514,000 after purchasing an additional 67,338 shares during the period. Medina Value Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecovyst by 44.2% during the fourth quarter. Medina Value Partners LLC now owns 2,742,233 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,951,000 after purchasing an additional 840,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,401,811 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,405,000 after purchasing an additional 557,249 shares during the period. 86.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ECVT. BWS Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 target price on shares of Ecovyst in a report on Friday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Ecovyst from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

About Ecovyst

Ecovyst Inc offers specialty catalysts and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Ecoservices and Advanced Materials & Catalysts. The Ecoservices segment provides sulfuric acid recycling services and end-to-end logistics for production of alkylate for refineries; and virgin sulfuric acid for mining, water treatment, and industrial applications.