Graney & King LLC Acquires Shares of 110 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its stake in Ecolab by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in Ecolab by 212.5% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $252.27 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $71.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $255.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $250.16.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. On average, research analysts forecast 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, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $286.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

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.