Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 126 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 32.7% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth $74,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 207.8% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 28,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,375,000 after purchasing an additional 19,501 shares during the period. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 78.0% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 340 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Finally, Radnor Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. 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 report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.8 %

ECL stock opened at $269.87 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $76.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $248.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $249.30. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.05 and a 12 month high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced 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 net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Company 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.