UMB Bank n.a. Purchases 35,601 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 195.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 53,785 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 35,601 shares during the quarter. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $13,733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 84.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after purchasing an additional 6,137 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in Ecolab by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,933,000 after buying an additional 62,434 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Gillson Capital LP purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,374,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 19.1% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,895,000 after acquiring an additional 3,393 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.07.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of ECL stock traded down $0.47 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $255.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 118,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,095,462. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $247.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $238.44. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $256.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.