Truist Financial Corp Acquires 12,465 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 428,572 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 12,465 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp owned about 0.15% of Ecolab worth $108,652,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Ecolab by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $755,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $229,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Douglass Winthrop Advisors LLC now owns 4,145 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $971,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TFC Financial Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 20.2% during the 1st quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 298 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 19,465 shares of the company's stock, 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded down $2.35 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $271.74. 868,074 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,180,354. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $261.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $252.27. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $220.96 and a 12 month high of $279.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.07 billion, a PE ratio of 36.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.03.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.53% and a net margin of 13.41%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price target on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $286.47.

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.