Telos Capital Management Inc. Invests $252,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Telos Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 995 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $755,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 5.0% during the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 1.8% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $703,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 4,145 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $971,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its position in Ecolab by 20.2% during the first quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 298 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of ECL stock opened at $266.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $263.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $252.92. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $274.17.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 business's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $288.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Five equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $287.00.

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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