David Maclennan Purchases 600 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Stock

Key Points

• David Maclennan, a director at Ecolab Inc., purchased 600 shares of the company's stock at an average price of $278.51 per share, increasing his total ownership to 20,253 shares.
• Ecolab recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.65 per share, which will be paid on October 15th, representing a 0.9% dividend yield.
• The company's stock has a current market cap of $79.65 billion and has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" among analysts, with a price target of $291.21.

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) Director David Maclennan purchased 600 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $278.51 per share, for a total transaction of $167,106.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 20,253 shares in the company, valued at $5,640,663.03. This trade represents a 3.05% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL traded up $0.87 during trading on Friday, hitting $280.85. 1,250,289 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,312,470. The company has a market cap of $79.65 billion, a PE ratio of 37.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.06. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $268.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $258.47. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $221.62 and a 1 year high of $281.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.90 by ($0.01). Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. The company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 16th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 8,752 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,051,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $308,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $900,000. Finally, United Capital Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,072 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,126,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $295.00 target price (up previously from $293.00) on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Ecolab from $320.00 to $315.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $291.21.

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.

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