Everhart Financial Group Inc. Grows Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Everhart Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 15.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,934 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 264 shares during the quarter. Everhart Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $490,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 164.7% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,302 shares during the period. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $80,564,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab by 42.8% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Ecolab by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,360 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 24,739 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,713,000 after buying an additional 4,107 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic lowered Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 24th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 target price on Ecolab and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 19,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $263.81 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The firm has a market cap of $74.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $250.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. The business had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

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.