1,327 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Bought by Choreo LLC

Choreo LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 18.6% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 38,730 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,561,000 after acquiring an additional 6,078 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 203,664 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,501,000 after acquiring an additional 11,448 shares in the last quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the third quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 123,354 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $20,896,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 90,800 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,382,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.7% during the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 4,695 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $795,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares in the last quarter. 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 recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.88.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $227.49 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $224.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $231.86. The company has a market capitalization of $65.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.13, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.55 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.