Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 67,320 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 52.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 194,792 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 67,320 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned 0.07% of Ecolab worth $49,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 6.2% during the first quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 2,811 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $713,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 12,899 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,270,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 1st quarter valued at about $275,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,152 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,813,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 40.4% during the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 1,667 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $423,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $7.14 on Friday, hitting $263.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,221,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,174,709. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year 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 50 day moving average of $252.41 and a 200-day moving average of $250.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.50. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of 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 shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Ecolab 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.