Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda Boosts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 36.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 755 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,182,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,598,240,000 after purchasing an additional 305,039 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,078,000 after acquiring an additional 123,572 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,215,000 after acquiring an additional 91,547 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 9.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,965,000 after acquiring an additional 155,151 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $365,420,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Piper Sandler began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a report on Friday, April 12th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $239.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at $3,890,528.07. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.0 %

ECL stock opened at $243.29 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $245.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $69.48 billion, a PE ratio of 45.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50 day moving average of $230.23 and a 200 day moving average of $216.83.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.