Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 1,675 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 65.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,238 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 1,675 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 64.5% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,898 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 1,136 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 101,001 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $24,014,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Ecolab by 206.7% during the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $179,749,000 after purchasing an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Quilter Plc lifted its position in Ecolab by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 73,393 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $17,197,000 after purchasing an additional 3,751 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 643,006 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $150,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan acquired 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $267.29 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $249.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $249.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $75.81 billion, a PE ratio of 36.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Ecolab's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on shares of Ecolab and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $305.00 to $275.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. 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 MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $283.13.

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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