Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Makes New Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 3,676 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $934,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 164.7% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $80,564,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 42.8% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,575 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Ecolab by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 24,739 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,713,000 after purchasing an additional 4,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Ecolab by 43.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,726 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $639,000 after purchasing an additional 827 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. 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 report on Monday, March 24th. Piper Sandler boosted 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. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Five 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.com, Ecolab has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $266.13 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $253.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $250.28. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $75.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. 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 (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, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. The business 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

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 $0.65 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

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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