Aviance Capital Partners LLC Purchases New Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Aviance Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,160 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 45.7% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 29,529 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,002,000 after purchasing an additional 9,264 shares during the last quarter. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $323,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.4% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 138,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,484,000 after purchasing an additional 7,145 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 160.7% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 37,819 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,407,000 after purchasing an additional 23,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 117.0% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 353,544 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $59,890,000 after purchasing an additional 190,635 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded down $0.16 during trading on Monday, hitting $237.84. The company had a trading volume of 69,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,168,023. The company has a market cap of $67.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.07, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.11. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.72 and a 52 week high of $245.93. The business’s 50-day moving average is $233.72 and its 200 day moving average is $219.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,812,680.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $227.37 per share, for a total transaction of $147,790.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 17,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,890,528.07. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.52, for a total transaction of $1,023,840.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 25,548 shares in the company, valued at $5,812,680.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $239.56.

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.