Walnut Level Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 7,523 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Walnut Level Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 7,523 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,763,000. Ecolab comprises about 0.7% of Walnut Level Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after acquiring an additional 105,289 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 205,477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,148,000 after buying an additional 8,226 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 4,221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $989,000 after buying an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $25,009,000. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,860 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $670,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $250.79 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.05 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $71.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $254.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $250.06.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. 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

ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Citigroup lifted their price objective 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, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Ecolab 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.