Cannell & Co. Sells 340 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cannell & Co. decreased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,945 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 340 shares during the period. Cannell & Co.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $2,766,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC now owns 111,563 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,129,000 after buying an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Ecolab by 526.2% in the fourth quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 56,959 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,298,000 after purchasing an additional 47,863 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 87,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,338,000 after buying an additional 9,695 shares during the period. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,040,000. Finally, Vest Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 39.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 167,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,128,000 after buying an additional 47,351 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $224.98 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $224.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $202.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $64.32 billion, a PE ratio of 41.66, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. Ecolab’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America upgraded Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $185.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.65.

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.