Yousif Capital Management LLC Has $16.89 Million Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Yousif Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 66,626 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 2,365 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $16,891,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $521,399,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 27,182.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,813,175 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $459,676,000 after acquiring an additional 1,806,529 shares in the last quarter. Winslow Capital Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 98.6% during the 4th 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 during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $179,749,000 after purchasing an additional 516,970 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 2.6%

ECL traded down $7.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $263.81. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,221,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,174,709. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $220.96 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $251.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $250.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock 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 (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Ecolab's revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab's payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

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.