4,055 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Purchased by Cetera Trust Company N.A

Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,055 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $804,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Live Oak Investment Partners bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Robbins Farley bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho raised Ecolab from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Bank of America raised Ecolab from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Barclays raised Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL traded down $1.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $218.16. 2,586,604 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,014,656. The company has a market cap of $62.37 billion, a PE ratio of 45.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $231.86. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $223.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $199.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 19.36% and a net margin of 8.96%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.27 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.60%.

Ecolab 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.