Trust Point Inc. Buys New Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Trust Point Inc. bought a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. DHJJ Financial Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Robbins Farley acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Mizuho increased their price target on Ecolab from $210.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $226.76.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $227.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $219.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $195.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.55, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

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.