Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC Acquires Shares of 221 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Corundum Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 47.9% during the 4th quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Argus upgraded 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.2 %

ECL opened at $269.47 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $247.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $248.96. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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%. Analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 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.