Pinebridge Investments L.P. Grows Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

by · The Markets Daily

Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Free Report) by 28.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 174,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 38,669 shares during the quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $40,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,262,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in 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 worth $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 15,834 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Ecolab by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,627,017 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $381,552,000 after acquiring an additional 129,635 shares during the last quarter. Corundum Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ecolab by 47.9% in the fourth quarter. Corundum Group Inc. now owns 7,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,769,000 after acquiring an additional 2,444 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter valued at $246,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 10th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Ecolab from $302.00 to $285.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $282.33.

Get Our Latest Report on ECL

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares in the company, valued at $996,486.96. The trade was a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 17,435 shares of company stock worth $4,637,985. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $236.80 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $67.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $218.19 and a 52-week high of $273.69. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $252.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $248.35.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 22.50% and a net margin of 13.42%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th were issued a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.23%.

About Ecolab

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

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