Park Avenue Securities LLC Raises Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 11.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,048 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Ecolab by 64.5% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,898 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $700,000 after buying an additional 1,136 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 101,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $24,014,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 206.7% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 767,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $179,749,000 after acquiring an additional 516,970 shares during the last quarter. Quilter Plc boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Quilter Plc now owns 73,393 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,197,000 after purchasing an additional 3,751 shares during the period. Finally, AMG National Trust Bank grew its holdings in Ecolab by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 37,617 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,822,000 after purchasing an additional 5,189 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE ECL opened at $266.44 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $220.96 and a one year 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. The company has a market capitalization of $75.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $249.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $249.58.

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

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on ECL. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $260.00 price objective on Ecolab and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Piper Sandler lifted 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Five 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 MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This represents a 2.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.