Tritonpoint Wealth LLC Has $4.89 Million Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Tritonpoint Wealth LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 212 shares during the period. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,891,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,231,873,000 after buying an additional 91,475 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $936,300,000 after buying an additional 304,478 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $831,744,000 after buying an additional 200,612 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $263.81 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $74.83 billion, a PE ratio of 35.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $220.96 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $252.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $250.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.33%.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays decreased their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.13.

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.