Hamilton Capital Partners LLC Buys New Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Hamilton Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 895 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 212.5% during the fourth quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last 90 days. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL opened at $269.68 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $250.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $249.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.32 billion, a PE ratio of 36.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $217.05 and a 52 week high of $273.69. 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 (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on ECL. UBS Group raised their target price on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup increased their price target on Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Three 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 data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

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.