South Plains Financial Inc. Invests $163,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

South Plains Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 696 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $163,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,149,744 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,658,768,000 after acquiring an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,273,277 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,231,873,000 after purchasing an additional 91,475 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in Ecolab by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,995,817 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $936,300,000 after purchasing an additional 304,478 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,129,058 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $733,201,000 after purchasing an additional 514,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,993,504 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $701,438,000 after purchasing an additional 165,949 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $252.62 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day moving average is $249.02 and its 200 day moving average is $247.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Redburn Atlantic lowered shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Ecolab from $277.00 to $273.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $263.00 to $280.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $282.47.

Ecolab 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.