Augustine Asset Management Inc. Acquires 1,086 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Augustine Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Ecolab comprises about 1.6% of Augustine Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Augustine Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,714,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 19,062.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 555,893 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $110,261,000 after purchasing an additional 552,992 shares during the period. Arvest Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $793,000. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 335,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $66,620,000 after acquiring an additional 86,672 shares during the period. Corundum Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 5,201 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,032,000 after acquiring an additional 343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight Advisors LLC PA purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $229,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ECL shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $226.76.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $227.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $219.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $195.65. The stock has a market cap of $65.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th will be issued a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

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.