King Luther Capital Management Corp Raises Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

King Luther Capital Management Corp raised its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 916,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 12,016 shares during the quarter. Ecolab makes up approximately 0.9% of King Luther Capital Management Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned about 0.32% of Ecolab worth $214,789,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Abound Wealth Management grew its holdings in Ecolab by 212.5% in the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.4 %

ECL opened at $265.54 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $273.69. The company has a market cap of $75.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.98, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $250.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $249.82.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 18th. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ECL. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ecolab from $285.00 to $307.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Argus raised Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $288.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ecolab news, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This trade represents a 60.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,964,059.17. This represents a 2.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.