OLD Mission Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 5,458 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,458 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,279,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,231,873,000 after purchasing an additional 91,475 shares in the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth $9,431,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 49.5% during the 4th quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 4,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $944,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 2,781 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $654,000 after purchasing an additional 902 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2,866.2% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,123 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $966,000 after purchasing an additional 3,984 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $253.64 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $256.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $250.26. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The stock has a market cap of $71.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.37, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Four 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.88.

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.