CVA Family Office LLC Acquires 260 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

CVA Family Office LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 131.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 458 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the quarter. CVA Family Office LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $66,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 1,406.3% during the 2nd quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 241 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in Ecolab by 39.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 2nd quarter worth $42,000. Finally, Old North State Trust LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $48,000. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.3 %

ECL stock opened at $158.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $155.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $152.09. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.04 and a fifty-two week high of $185.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $45.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.98.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $1.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.02% and a net margin of 7.69%. The business had revenue of $3.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.53 per share. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 20th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.50%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Ecolab from $140.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Barclays lifted their target price on Ecolab from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ecolab from $175.00 to $180.00 in a report on Friday, December 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Ecolab from $168.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 4,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.95, for a total transaction of $717,631.80. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,442 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,027,423.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.04% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

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Ecolab, Inc engages in the provision of products and services in the field of water, hygiene, and energy. It operates through the following segments: Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, Global Energy & Life Science, and Other. The Global Industrial segment consists of the water, food and beverage, paper, and downstream operating segments.