SVB Wealth LLC Takes $3.44 Million Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 14,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,441,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 66.1% in the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,062 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $717,000 after buying an additional 1,219 shares during the period. Linscomb Wealth Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 11,403 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,672,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab by 91.8% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 55,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,985,000 after purchasing an additional 26,529 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $39,204,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 76,338 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,888,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Ecolab from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $279.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $287.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total value of $2,898,543.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. The trade was a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

ECL stock opened at $268.64 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 52 week low of $217.05 and a 52 week high of $270.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $247.25 and its 200 day moving average is $248.69. The firm has a market cap of $76.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released 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 net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.