West Coast Financial LLC Makes New $3.10 Million Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

West Coast Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 12,228 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,100,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $80,564,000. Sargent Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 1,874 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 7,555 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,770,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Stratos Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 1,271 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $298,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ECL. Piper Sandler increased their target price on 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 Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays cut their price target on Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Five equities research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.13.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE:ECL traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $267.29. The stock had a trading volume of 606,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,166,885. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.96 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $249.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.18. The company has a market capitalization of $75.81 billion, a PE ratio of 36.22, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.