Intact Investment Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 7,200 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Intact Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,428,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after purchasing an additional 387,545 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Ecolab by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,078,000 after buying an additional 123,572 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $432,945,000 after buying an additional 41,545 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Ecolab by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,224,000 after buying an additional 85,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,173,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $368,142,000 after buying an additional 48,375 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock traded up $1.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $221.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,242,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,060,937. The company has a market cap of $63.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $223.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $201.16. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a $0.57 dividend. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

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.