1,959 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Acquired by Certior Financial Group LLC

Certior Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $459,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $521,399,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after buying an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $80,564,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in Ecolab by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $936,300,000 after acquiring an additional 304,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Ecolab by 50.2% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 886,653 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $207,758,000 after buying an additional 296,344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 5.0 %

NYSE ECL opened at $237.65 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.41 billion, a PE ratio of 32.20, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $256.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $250.16.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $289.33.

About Ecolab

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.