PrairieView Partners LLC Has $832,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

PrairieView Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,554 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. PrairieView Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $832,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $602,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,224 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after buying an additional 855 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $262.36 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $212.71 and a twelve month high of $267.56. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $242.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $246.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $74.29 billion, a PE ratio of 36.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. On average, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.64 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.65 dividend. This is a boost from Ecolab’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 36.47%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 106,542 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.21, for a total value of $25,698,995.82. Following the sale, the insider now owns 29,348,741 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,079,209,816.61. This trade represents a 0.36 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 260,415 shares of company stock worth $63,544,899. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ECL. Citigroup raised their price target on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $270.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $235.00 to $310.00 in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.33.

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.