Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC Buys 2,488 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 265.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,424 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,488 shares during the period. Focus Partners Advisor Solutions LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $802,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $5,658,768,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,231,873,000 after buying an additional 91,475 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Ecolab by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $936,300,000 after buying an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in Ecolab by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,549,610 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $831,744,000 after buying an additional 200,612 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position 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 period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Mizuho decreased 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. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

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

Ecolab Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE ECL traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $262.44. The stock had a trading volume of 301,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,165,567. The company's 50 day moving average price is $247.66 and its 200 day moving average price is $248.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.96 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $74.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The business's revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

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.