Generali Investments Management Co LLC Sells 948 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Generali Investments Management Co LLC lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 25.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,754 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 948 shares during the quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Ecolab by 27,182.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 98.6% during the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $179,749,000 after buying an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ECL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $266.72 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $249.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $249.18. The company has a market cap of $75.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month 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 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 business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Ecolab's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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.

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