Moors & Cabot Inc. Acquires 265 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,963 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $694,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,181,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,317,811,000 after acquiring an additional 68,043 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,842,114 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $981,007,000 after purchasing an additional 35,027 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in Ecolab by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,499,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $586,309,000 after purchasing an additional 83,328 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in 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 worth $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,441,490 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $337,770,000 after purchasing an additional 38,402 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.1 %

Ecolab stock opened at $250.87 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $252.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $249.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.05 and a 1-year high of $273.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.99, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Equities research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last ninety days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.