ProShare Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 774,143 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,954 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.27% of Ecolab worth $181,397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in Ecolab by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 45,748 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $10,720,000 after acquiring an additional 7,252 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $872,000. Nomura Holdings Inc. grew its position in Ecolab by 161.1% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 13,042 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,056,000 after buying an additional 8,047 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 272.2% during the 4th quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 5,814 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,362,000 after purchasing an additional 4,252 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northeast Financial Consultants Inc increased its holdings in Ecolab by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Northeast Financial Consultants Inc now owns 5,999 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,406,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. UBS Group upped their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $250.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $283.13.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of ECL stock traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $261.47. 255,306 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,377,030. The firm has a market cap of $74.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.05. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $220.96 and a fifty-two week high of $273.69. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $246.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $247.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

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.