Intech Investment Management LLC Increases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 73.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 6,937 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,852,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.1% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,904 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $997,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% during the third quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 56,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,529,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.9% during the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 7,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $6,441,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.3% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 132,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,897,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on ECL. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2 %

ECL stock opened at $254.25 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $71.95 billion, a PE ratio of 34.45, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $253.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $250.03. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.