Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $282,000 Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,101 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the first quarter worth $2,997,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 8.1% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 4,379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,011,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 6.6% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 87,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $20,190,000 after buying an additional 5,428 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas bought a new stake in Ecolab in the first quarter worth about $979,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 6.4% in the first quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $324,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $244.57 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $252.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $241.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $167.30 and a 1-year high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.59 billion, a PE ratio of 34.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler raised their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $306.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $228.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.20.

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.