State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 127.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 142,395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 79,900 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $33,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.0% during the third quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $915,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 9,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,039,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Bingham Osborn & Scarborough LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bingham Osborn & Scarborough LLC now owns 1,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Partners LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Partners LLC now owns 469 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.54% of the company’s stock.
A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $200.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 17th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Ecolab from $220.00 to $205.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 16th. Edward Jones upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 17th. Evercore ISI started coverage on Ecolab in a report on Thursday, December 2nd. They issued a $235.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ecolab from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $230.00 to $191.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 16th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $206.00.
Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $2.15 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $178.25. 13,029 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,665,423. The firm has a market cap of $51.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.14, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.32. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $154.85 and a 52-week high of $238.93. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $178.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $208.54.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 15th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.87% and a net margin of 8.87%. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 14th. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.17%.
In other Ecolab news, Director Jeffrey M. Ettinger acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $179.39 per share, for a total transaction of $896,950.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Ecolab Company Profile (Get Rating)
Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. 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.
Further Reading
- Get a free copy of the StockNews.com research report on Ecolab (ECL)
- 3 Mid-Cap Value Stocks Ready to Run
- Institutional Support Has Paychex On Brink Of New All-Time Highs
- These Are Rock Bottom Prices For Five Below
- Cal-Maine Foods Is On The Upswing, Finally
- 4 Downtrodden EV Stocks: Buy the Dip
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ECL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating).
Want More Great Investing Ideas?
- 3 Stocks to DOUBLE This Year
- The 10 Best Stocks to Own in 2022
- 7 Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever
- 9 “MUST OWN” Growth Stocks
Receive News & Ratings for Ecolab Daily – Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts’ ratings for Ecolab and related companies with MarketBeat.com’s FREE daily email newsletter.