Legacy Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Legacy Advisors LLC grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,020 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $505,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $755,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 5.0% during the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 4,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.13.

Ecolab Price Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $266.59 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $75.61 billion, a PE ratio of 36.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $220.96 and a 52-week high of $273.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50 day moving average is $256.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $250.95.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.33%.

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.