Argent Trust Co Buys 736 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Argent Trust Co raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 9.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,321 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,110,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Forum Financial Management LP grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.8% during the first quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 Ecolab by 5.0% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $703,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $273.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $290.71.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $260.80 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $266.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $256.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.44. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $221.62 and a one year high of $274.17. The firm has a market cap of $73.97 billion, a PE ratio of 34.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.06.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.52% and a net margin of 13.59%. The firm had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.71%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.