Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC Invests $763,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Fairvoy Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 3,009 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $763,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $459,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 98.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $80,564,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 2.6%

ECL stock opened at $263.81 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $252.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $250.14. 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. The company has a market cap of $74.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.75, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 (DPR) is 35.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ECL. Barclays reduced their target price on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Citigroup reduced their target price on Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on 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 given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $283.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought 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 in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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