LPL Financial LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

LPL Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 205,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,226 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $48,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its position in Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $252.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $255.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $250.18. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given 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 (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Redburn Atlantic lowered 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $286.88.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.