12,978 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Bought by Norden Group LLC

Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 12,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,997,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 1.1% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $990,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Peak Asset Management LLC now owns 12,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,424,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Ecolab by 19.1% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 343 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $239.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $235.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $245.93. The stock has a market cap of $67.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $234.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $220.25.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.