4,165 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Bought by Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 4,165 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $976,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $900,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $755,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $308,000. Optimize Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 15,039 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus upgraded Ecolab to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $282.33.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ECL traded up $2.55 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $238.51. 1,409,232 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,147,721. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $253.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $248.56. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.27 and a twelve month high of $273.69.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. As a group, research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were given a $0.65 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Ecolab's payout ratio is presently 35.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total value of $1,510,572.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at approximately $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company 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.