Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by PrairieView Partners LLC

PrairieView Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 49 shares during the quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in Ecolab by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Abound Wealth Management increased its position in Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on ECL shares. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $284.33.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $262.36 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $212.71 and a 1 year high of $267.56. The stock has a market cap of $74.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.80, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $242.06 and a 200-day moving average of $246.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. Equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This is a positive change from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 70,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.95, for a total transaction of $17,216,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,178,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,176,511,348.95. This represents a 0.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 260,415 shares of company stock worth $63,544,899 over the last 90 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.