First Mercantile Trust Co. grew its holdings in US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ:ECOL) by 11.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. First Mercantile Trust Co.’s holdings in US Ecology were worth $108,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ECOL. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in US Ecology in the 1st quarter worth approximately $77,000. Syquant Capital Sas acquired a new stake in shares of US Ecology during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,881,000. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of US Ecology during the 2nd quarter worth about $204,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of US Ecology by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 8,736 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $520,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fenimore Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of US Ecology by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc. now owns 213,066 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $12,686,000 after purchasing an additional 1,520 shares during the last quarter. 87.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
A number of analysts recently issued reports on ECOL shares. BidaskClub downgraded US Ecology from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. 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 US Ecology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, ValuEngine raised US Ecology from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.33.
US Ecology stock traded down $0.66 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.87. 2,538 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 180,500. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $63.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.20. US Ecology Inc has a 12-month low of $54.24 and a 12-month high of $72.85. The firm has a market cap of $1.35 billion, a PE ratio of 25.83 and a beta of 0.53. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The business services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.01. US Ecology had a return on equity of 13.61% and a net margin of 8.22%. The company had revenue of $167.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.25 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.61 EPS. US Ecology’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that US Ecology Inc will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Friday, October 18th were issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 17th. US Ecology’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.03%.
US Ecology 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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