Corundum Group Inc. Has $1.30 Million Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Corundum Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 33.5% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,573 shares during the period. Corundum Group Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the first quarter worth $390,687,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Ecolab by 295.2% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 791,246 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,317,000 after buying an additional 591,040 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,486,858 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,423,116,000 after buying an additional 304,402 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 580.7% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 303,565 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,248,000 after buying an additional 258,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 136.0% in the second quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 359,106 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $85,467,000 after acquiring an additional 206,973 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ECL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Citigroup raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $271.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, with a total value of $156,266.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

NYSE:ECL opened at $261.46 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $262.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $250.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $239.91. The firm has a market cap of $74.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Ecolab Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.