Chicago Capital LLC Boosts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Chicago Capital LLC increased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 46.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,026 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,367 shares during the period. Chicago Capital LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,316,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,529 shares during the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 98.6% in the 4th quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $80,564,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. 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 report on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of 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 raised their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of ECL opened at $266.13 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $75.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $253.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $250.28. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. The company 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%. Ecolab's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

About Ecolab

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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