Aviso Wealth Management Has $352,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Aviso Wealth Management grew its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Aviso Wealth Management’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 84.3% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after acquiring an additional 6,137 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 527.9% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,438,000 after acquiring an additional 73,913 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,933,000 after acquiring an additional 62,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $254.59 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $256.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $245.50 and its 200-day moving average is $237.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.15, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The company had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $265.43.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares in the company, valued at $6,010,250. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.