Hilltop Holdings Inc. Purchases New Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. acquired a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,211 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,075,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 1,778 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 15,429 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,940,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,391 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Bangor Savings Bank grew its position in Ecolab by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 292 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc grew its position in Ecolab by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,840 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $676,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company restated a "market perform" rating on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Friday, October 18th. UBS Group cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $276.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $235.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, October 18th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $98,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 24,041 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,010,250. This trade represents a 1.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 834,959 shares of company stock worth $205,323,667 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of Ecolab stock traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $247.93. The company had a trading volume of 824,184 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,087,054. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $251.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $245.22. The stock has a market cap of $70.20 billion, a PE ratio of 34.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.97. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $189.58 and a 1-year high of $262.61.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.82 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.05% and a return on equity of 22.12%. Ecolab's quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.54 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a $0.65 dividend. This is an increase from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.98%.

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.