SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Invests $126,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,000.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Hara Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 212.5% in the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the company’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 value of $2,898,543.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares in the company, valued at $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.00.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of ECL opened at $269.68 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $250.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $249.61. The stock has a market cap of $76.32 billion, a PE ratio of 36.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $217.05 and a 12 month high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.23%.

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.