Is US Ecology Inc. (ECOL) A Good Stock To Buy?

Because US Ecology Inc. (NASDAQ:ECOL) has sustained falling interest from the smart money, we can see that there was a specific group of money managers who sold off their full holdings in the third quarter. Interestingly, Israel Englander’s Millennium Management said goodbye to the biggest stake of all the hedgies monitored by Insider Monkey, totaling close to $5.4 million in stock, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was right behind this move, as the fund sold off about $0.4 million worth of shares.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as US Ecology Inc. (NASDAQ:ECOL) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWAY), Rush Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:RUSHA), Windstream Corporation (NASDAQ:WIN), and Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG). This group of stocks’ market valuations are closest to ECOL’s market valuation.

As you can see these stocks had an average of 13.25 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $121 million. That figure was $67 million in ECOL’s case. Healthways, Inc. (NASDAQ:HWAY) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand Employers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:EIG) is the least popular one with only 10 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks US Ecology Inc. (NASDAQ:ECOL) is even less popular than EIG. Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case more research is warranted.