BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Buys 6,155 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 14.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 49,042 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,155 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp's holdings in Ecolab were worth $11,492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 134.8% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Navigoe LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on ECL shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.13.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL traded down $2.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $263.19. 274,066 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,165,853. The company's fifty day moving average price is $247.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $248.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $220.96 and a 52-week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Ecolab's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. 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.