Aviance Capital Partners LLC Invests $499,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 2,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter valued at $5,720,000. Chemung Canal Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 46.8% in the first quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 30,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,953,000 after acquiring an additional 9,601 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 3.3% in the first quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 50,612 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,686,000 after acquiring an additional 1,634 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 7.1% in the first quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,633 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 47.8% in the first quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 739 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $171,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average price of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were 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 approximately $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $239.56.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $0.16 during trading on Monday, hitting $237.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 69,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,168,023. The company has a 50-day moving average of $233.72 and a 200-day moving average of $219.60. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.72 and a 12 month high of $245.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market cap of $67.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 42.22%.

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.