1,073 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Acquired by Keel Point LLC

Keel Point LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,073 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Robbins Farley acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $219.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market cap of $62.69 billion, a PE ratio of 45.77, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $222.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $198.63. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.72 and a twelve month high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays upgraded shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $230.47.

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.