Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Knuff & Co LLC

Knuff & Co LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 54.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 309 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Knuff & Co LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $72,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $437,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 14.2% in the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after buying an additional 892 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $1,404,000. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 187.4% during the third quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 2,454 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $420,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on ECL. Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $259.08 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $217.05 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $251.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $249.90. The firm has a market cap of $73.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.11, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.