Retirement Guys Formula LLC Boosts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Retirement Guys Formula LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 19.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,969 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 637 shares during the period. Retirement Guys Formula LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,658,768,000 after purchasing an additional 105,289 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 1.8% in the fourth 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 raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.2% in the fourth 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 during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake 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 valued at $831,744,000 after acquiring an additional 200,612 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.9%

ECL stock opened at $266.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $255.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $250.73. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $75.47 billion, a PE ratio of 36.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.32.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

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.