Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 2,441 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 119,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,441 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $28,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $250.87 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $273.69. The company has a 50 day moving average of $252.47 and a 200-day moving average of $249.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $71.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

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.