Next Capital Management LLC Has $1.14 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Next Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,863 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the quarter. Next Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the period. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Abound Wealth Management boosted its stake in Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $253.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $253.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.00.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Ecolab Company 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.