Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) Stock Price

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Citigroup from $13.00 to $12.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 13.05% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on ECVT. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ecovyst in a report on Friday. BWS Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $16.00 target price on shares of Ecovyst in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of Ecovyst in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ecovyst from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, November 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ecovyst from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.00.

Ecovyst Price Performance

Shares of ECVT stock traded down $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $10.62. 315,362 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,663,085. The company has a quick ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $11.76. Ecovyst has a fifty-two week low of $8.11 and a fifty-two week high of $15.09.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $308.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $287.45 million. Ecovyst had a net margin of 3.72% and a return on equity of 14.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecovyst will post 0.60 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ecovyst

In other news, Director Patti Humble purchased 24,875 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $10.05 per share, for a total transaction of $249,993.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 33,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $341,438.70. This trade represents a 273.38% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecovyst

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Ecovyst in the second quarter valued at about $2,794,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of Ecovyst in the second quarter worth about $619,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Ecovyst by 62.1% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,106,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,223,000 after buying an additional 423,825 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Ecovyst during the second quarter worth about $1,283,000. Finally, Tiptree Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecovyst during the second quarter worth about $4,980,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.69% of the company’s stock.

About Ecovyst

Ecovyst Inc. is a specialty chemicals company that supplies catalysts, materials and services to customers in the refining, chemicals and other industrial sectors. Its businesses include sulfuric acid services and catalyst technologies. Through its Ecoservices business, Ecovyst regenerates spent sulfuric acid for reuse and supplies virgin sulfuric acid. These services support industrial processes, including those used in petroleum refining and chemical manufacturing. The company’s catalyst technologies include zeolite catalysts and silica-based materials used in refining and chemical applications.