Short Interest in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Rises By 5.3%

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 2,000,000 shares, an increase of 5.3% from the November 15th total of 1,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 976,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company's shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ECL. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $263.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $306.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $271.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $279.87.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock traded down $1.81 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $248.39. 1,245,155 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,087,902. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $250.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $246.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Ecolab has a one year low of $193.46 and a one year high of $262.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.33 billion, a PE ratio of 34.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.82 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.12% and a net margin of 13.05%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.54 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 17th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. This is a positive change from Ecolab's previous quarterly dividend of $0.57. Ecolab's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.47%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, major shareholder William H. Gates III sold 409,136 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $246.92, for a total value of $101,023,861.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 30,776,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,599,313,132.56. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 834,566 shares of company stock worth $205,225,417 over the last three months. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ecolab

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 30.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 776 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 5.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 194,106 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $46,197,000 after purchasing an additional 9,731 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 27.8% during the second quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,749 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 37.8% in the second quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,764 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,848,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.4% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 73,943 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $17,598,000 after purchasing an additional 1,039 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company's stock.

Ecolab Company 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.