G&S Capital LLC Has $712,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

G&S Capital LLC lowered its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,084 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 63 shares during the quarter. G&S Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $712,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,182,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,598,240,000 after acquiring an additional 305,039 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,264,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $449,215,000 after acquiring an additional 91,547 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,855,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,965,000 after acquiring an additional 155,151 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at $365,420,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 117.9% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,669,583 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $282,185,000 after acquiring an additional 903,307 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $240.68 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $156.72 and a 1 year high of $245.93. The business has a 50-day moving average of $232.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $218.67. The company has a market capitalization of $68.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.59 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $260.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Thursday, June 20th. Piper Sandler began coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Ecolab from $269.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $239.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total value of $1,023,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was bought at an average price of $227.37 per share, with a total value of $147,790.50. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 17,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,890,528.07. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.