Quotient Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 50 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Quotient Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 939 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in Ecolab by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,933,000 after purchasing an additional 62,434 shares during the period. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,327,000. Novak & Powell Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $646,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 34.7% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kampmann Melissa S. increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Kampmann Melissa S. now owns 16,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,361,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $253.94 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $258.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a market cap of $72.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $247.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $238.75.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 38.26%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at $4,319,446.47. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $243.00 to $267.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.07.

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.