HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Acquires 1,333 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 49.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $521,399,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in Ecolab by 206.7% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after acquiring an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $80,564,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $936,300,000 after acquiring an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.2% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 886,653 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $207,758,000 after purchasing an additional 296,344 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $254.50 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.19 billion, a PE ratio of 34.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $256.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $250.23. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $217.05 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on ECL. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. 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 note on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.88.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.