Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Sold by MV Capital Management Inc.

MV Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 8.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,737 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 1,397 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Ecolab were worth $3,736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 15.6% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,898 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,136 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake 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 worth $24,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Ecolab by 206.7% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $179,749,000 after buying an additional 516,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank raised its position in Ecolab by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 37,617 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $8,822,000 after purchasing an additional 5,189 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

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 acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL 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 1,172,769. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $74.83 billion, a PE ratio of 35.75, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $220.96 and a 52-week high of $273.69. The business has a 50 day moving average of $251.63 and a 200 day moving average of $250.01.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.50. The company 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%. Ecolab's revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, 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 disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic cut Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.