Hickory Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Hickory Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 1,123 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 27,950.4% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 738,567 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $188,578,000 after purchasing an additional 735,934 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $179,749,000 after acquiring an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $80,564,000. Eastern Bank increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 750.9% in the third quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 162,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,519,000 after acquiring an additional 143,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 64.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,380,000 after acquiring an additional 129,738 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $264.99 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $242.68 and its 200-day moving average is $246.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $213.94 and a 12-month high of $268.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ECL. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares in the company, valued at $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 260,415 shares of company stock worth $63,544,899 over the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.