Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC cut its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 7.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 70,198 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 5,770 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in Ecolab by 134.8% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Redburn Atlantic cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of ECL traded down $1.21 during trading on Thursday, reaching $260.14. 1,150,565 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,172,157. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $250.42. The stock has a market cap of $73.78 billion, a PE ratio of 35.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.96 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.41% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's payout ratio is 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.