Knuff & Co LLC Makes New Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Knuff & Co LLC bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 2,805.1% in the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 38,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,635,000 after acquiring an additional 37,167 shares in the last quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,129,000 after purchasing an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 526.2% during the fourth quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,298,000 after purchasing an additional 47,863 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,338,000 after purchasing an additional 9,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $35,040,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Piper Sandler started coverage on Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $236.88.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded up $0.74 during trading on Friday, hitting $227.50. 1,068,171 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,224,187. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $224.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $202.96. The company has a market cap of $65.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.13, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

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.