Buffington Mohr McNeal Buys 234 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Buffington Mohr McNeal lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 0.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,761 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the quarter. Ecolab comprises 1.3% of Buffington Mohr McNeal’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Buffington Mohr McNeal’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $7,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $365,420,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 117.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,185,000 after acquiring an additional 903,307 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 19,062.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $110,261,000 after acquiring an additional 552,992 shares in the last quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $91,178,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after acquiring an additional 387,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. 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 objective for the company. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $239.56.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded up $0.15 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $235.65. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 922,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,172,029. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $245.93. The company has a market capitalization of $67.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.66, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $234.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.87.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date 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.