GTS Securities LLC Lowers Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

GTS Securities LLC lowered its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 72.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,398 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,392 shares during the quarter. GTS Securities LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,658,768,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 91,475 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $936,300,000 after buying an additional 304,478 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $831,744,000 after buying an additional 200,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position 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 valued at $733,201,000 after acquiring an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Piper Sandler increased their target price on 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 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. UBS Group raised their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus upgraded Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.13.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE ECL traded up $1.32 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $265.61. 2,497,876 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,171,549. The business's 50-day moving average is $248.17 and its 200-day moving average is $248.65. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.96 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.99, a P/E/G 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 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. 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 firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.