Assetmark Inc. Acquires 11,586 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 161.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,768 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,586 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $4,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after buying an additional 15,834 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,552,000 after buying an additional 129,635 shares during the period. Corundum Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 47.9% in the 4th quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,769,000 after buying an additional 2,444 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 37,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,669,000 after buying an additional 2,772 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 1.3 %

Ecolab stock opened at $269.68 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $250.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $249.66. 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 $273.69. The stock has a market cap of $76.32 billion, a PE ratio of 36.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

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

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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