Callan Family Office LLC Raises Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Callan Family Office LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 201.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,142 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 3,439 shares during the period. Callan Family Office LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $179,749,000 after buying an additional 516,970 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $80,564,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,073,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,204,000. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 330,475 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $84,380,000 after purchasing an additional 129,738 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Argus upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. 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 note 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 note on Monday, November 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.00.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $269.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $76.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $250.17 and a 200 day moving average of $249.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.05 and a 52-week high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

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.