UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Acquires 1,321 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp lifted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,312 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,321 shares during the quarter. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, 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. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:ECL opened at $251.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $255.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.15. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.05 and a 52-week high of $273.69. The company has a market cap of $71.28 billion, a PE ratio of 34.05, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

About Ecolab

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.