Invesco Ltd. Boosts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,993,504 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 165,949 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 1.06% of Ecolab worth $701,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in Ecolab by 134.8% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of Ecolab from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $270.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $277.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $285.71.

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Ecolab Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:ECL traded up $2.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $234.98. The stock had a trading volume of 1,347,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,147,651. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $66.65 billion, a PE ratio of 31.84, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.23%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 15,744 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,202,860.80. The trade was a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total value of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.50% of the company's stock.

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.