New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 35,867.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,661 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $8,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in ECL. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Ecolab by 134.8% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.2 %

ECL stock opened at $252.95 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $71.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.27, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $217.05 and a twelve month high of $273.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $255.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $250.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 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%. Research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given 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 1.03%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 35.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ECL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $290.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Redburn Atlantic downgraded Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday. Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued 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 target price of $286.88.

Insider Activity

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. This represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director David Maclennan bought 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $264.51 per share, with a total value of $105,804.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985. Company insiders own 0.04% 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.