Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Acquires 42 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 859 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Concord Wealth Partners raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 62.0% during the third quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 212.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 260,415 shares of company stock valued at $63,544,899. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $284.33.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.2 %

Ecolab stock opened at $264.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $242.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $246.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $213.94 and a 1-year high of $268.00.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. This is an increase from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is 36.47%.

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.