Tilt Investment Management Holdings PBC lessened its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 89.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,028 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,469 shares during the quarter. Tilt Investment Management Holdings PBC's holdings in Ecolab were worth $205,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Cambridge Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 96,506 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $19,142,000 after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 125.8% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 657 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $131,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its position in Ecolab by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,135 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $7,762,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the period. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $796,000. Finally, Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $916,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
ECL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $260.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a "peer perform" rating for the company. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $230.47.
View Our Latest Research Report on ECL
Ecolab Price Performance
Shares of ECL traded down $1.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $218.20. 2,586,602 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,224,184. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $223.03 and a 200-day moving average of $198.77. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86. The firm has a market cap of $62.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.69, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.95.
Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.27 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Ecolab Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab's payout ratio is 47.60%.
About Ecolab
(
Free Report)
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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