Kestra Investment Management LLC Invests $39,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 13,004 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,052,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,269 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $766,000 after buying an additional 130 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 79,855 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,712,000 after buying an additional 11,026 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 577,125 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $135,232,000 after buying an additional 11,648 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Ecolab by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 416,107 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $97,502,000 after buying an additional 15,809 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE ECL opened at $264.47 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.89 billion, a PE ratio of 35.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $244.73 and a 200 day moving average of $247.66. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $268.00. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. 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. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $284.33.

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.