Twin City Private Wealth LLC Has $386,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Twin City Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,644 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Twin City Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $386,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Invesco LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 1,067 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 859 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. World Equity Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 1,217 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,097 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $726,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $250.79 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69. 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 firm has a market cap of $71.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $254.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $250.06.

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, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.