US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ:ECOL) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 3rd, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of 0.18 per share by the business services provider on Friday, January 24th. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 16th.
US Ecology has a payout ratio of 32.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect US Ecology to earn $2.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.3%.
ECOL opened at $55.47 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.03. US Ecology has a 52-week low of $53.48 and a 52-week high of $67.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.91 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $56.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.13.
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. The company had revenue of $167.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.25 million. US Ecology had a return on equity of 13.61% and a net margin of 8.22%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that US Ecology will post 2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Several research analysts have commented on the stock. ValuEngine lowered shares of US Ecology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group set a $63.00 target price on shares of US Ecology and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. BidaskClub cut shares of US Ecology from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised shares of US Ecology from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.
About US Ecology
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.
Further Reading: Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP)
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