Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

ECVT has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ecovyst in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. BWS Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Ecovyst in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of Ecovyst in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Ecovyst to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $14.62.

Ecovyst Price Performance

Ecovyst stock opened at $9.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.07 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.50, a PEG ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 1.05. Ecovyst has a 1 year low of $7.41 and a 1 year high of $15.09. The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.19 and a 200-day moving average of $11.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Ecovyst (NYSE:ECVT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $249.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $237.54 million. Ecovyst had a positive return on equity of 13.83% and a negative net margin of 7.05%. Ecovyst’s revenue was up 24.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.12 EPS. Ecovyst has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.580-0.720 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ecovyst will post 0.60 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ecovyst

In other Ecovyst news, Director Patti Humble purchased 24,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $10.05 per share, with a total value of $249,993.75. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 33,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $341,438.70. This represents a 273.38% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.84% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecovyst

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Ecovyst during the second quarter worth about $132,792,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in Ecovyst by 246.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,829,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,101,000 after buying an additional 3,435,942 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Ecovyst in the second quarter valued at approximately $10,712,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Ecovyst in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,274,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecovyst in the second quarter valued at approximately $7,163,000. Institutional investors own 86.69% of the company’s stock.

About Ecovyst

Ecovyst Inc (NYSE: ECVT) is a global provider of specialty catalysts and advanced materials used in industrial and environmental applications. The company develops, manufactures and supplies products that help customers improve process efficiency, increase yields and meet emissions and sustainability requirements.

Through its Catalysts Technologies business, Ecovyst provides catalysts and related services for petroleum refining, renewable fuels, petrochemicals and other chemical processes.