McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. Has $534,000 Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. decreased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,092 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 117 shares during the period. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $534,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 84.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,660 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,198 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,895,000 after purchasing an additional 3,393 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,194,000. Finally, Chemung Canal Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 46.8% during the 1st quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 30,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,953,000 after purchasing an additional 9,601 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $251.00 to $272.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $269.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,967 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $259.77 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $249.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $239.39. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $261.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.22%.

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.