Park Avenue Securities LLC Acquires 1,048 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 11.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,393 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 27,182.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $459,676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Ecolab by 98.6% in the fourth quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC now owns 1,427,083 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $334,394,000 after purchasing an additional 708,432 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 516,970 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $733,201,000 after buying an additional 514,944 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 2.6%

Ecolab stock traded down $7.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $263.81. 1,221,133 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,174,709. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $220.96 and a 52-week high of $273.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The business's 50-day moving average price is $251.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $250.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $1.50. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for 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%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid 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%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Piper Sandler lifted 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. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Five equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $283.13.

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.