1,080 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Bought by HBK Sorce Advisory LLC

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,080 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,510,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $802,069,000 after purchasing an additional 2,023,685 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $276,712,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 65,845.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,835,923 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $267,237,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833,139 shares during the period. Capital International Investors acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $304,475,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 117.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,185,000 after purchasing an additional 903,307 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $227.88.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.6 %

ECL stock opened at $220.75 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $221.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $197.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.10.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.27 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.60%.

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.