Capital Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 1,100 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 128.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,954 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 164.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $80,564,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,651 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,090,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,195 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $749,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of ECL traded up $1.29 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $269.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 280,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,169,255. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $76.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The business has a fifty day moving average of $250.81 and a 200 day moving average of $249.85.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, 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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target 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 upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five equities 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $283.13.

Ecolab 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.