Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,156 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 41 shares during the period. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $505,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 74.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 18,876 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,820,000 after purchasing an additional 8,068 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.4% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,762 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $450,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 6.5% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 30,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,664,000 after purchasing an additional 1,829 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 10.1% in the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,133 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $545,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.0% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 30,679 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,833,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $287.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.7 %

ECL stock opened at $265.64 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $268.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $245.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $248.16. The company has a market capitalization of $75.22 billion, a PE ratio of 35.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

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.