SRN Advisors LLC Takes Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SRN Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 3,991 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $935,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays raised their target price on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $287.00.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $266.60 on Thursday. 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’s 50 day moving average is $246.01 and its 200-day moving average is $248.29. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $268.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase 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 that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.