SVB Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 14,687 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $3,441,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,356 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $602,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 797.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 17,820 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,550,000 after purchasing an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $381,552,000 after purchasing an additional 129,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corundum Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 47.9% during the 4th quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,444 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.04% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Ecolab from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $263.00 to $280.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.8 %

Ecolab stock traded up $2.10 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $269.87. The stock had a trading volume of 1,513,115 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,274,555. 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 stock's 50-day moving average price is $248.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $249.30. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $217.05 and a 12-month high of $273.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.57, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. Ecolab's payout ratio is 35.23%.

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.