Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,860 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $670,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,672 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,959,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 16.4% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 9,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,337 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,046 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $778,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 1,045 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $267,000 after buying an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 2,579 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $660,000 after buying an additional 258 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $252.72 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.05 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $254.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $250.10. The stock has a market cap of $71.68 billion, a PE ratio of 34.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.