US Ecology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECOL – Get Rating) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,670,000 shares, a growth of 145.0% from the January 31st total of 681,600 shares. Currently, 5.4% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 663,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days.
A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ECOL shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of US Ecology from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 17th. Zacks Investment Research cut US Ecology from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut US Ecology from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.67.
Shares of US Ecology stock opened at $47.38 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.50. US Ecology has a 52-week low of $26.26 and a 52-week high of $48.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 296.14 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 1.95.
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US Ecology (NASDAQ:ECOL – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 24th. The business services provider reported $0.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.26 by ($0.13). US Ecology had a net margin of 0.54% and a return on equity of 1.89%. The company had revenue of $261.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $252.28 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that US Ecology will post 0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ECOL. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of US Ecology during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Berman Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of US Ecology by 60.7% during the third quarter. Berman Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,138 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 430 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. bought a new stake in shares of US Ecology during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. bought a new stake in shares of US Ecology during the third quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of US Ecology by 28.2% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,766 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.48% of the company’s stock.
About US Ecology (Get Rating)
US Ecology, Inc engages in the provision of environmental services to commercial and government entities. It operates through the following segments: Waste Solutions, Field Services, and Energy Waste. The Waste Solutions segment includes a range of specialty material management services including transportation, recycling, treatment and disposal of hazardous, non-hazardous, E&P and radioactive waste at company-owned landfill, wastewater, deep-well injection, and other treatment facilities.
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