3,650 Ecolab Inc. $ECL Shares Acquired by Glenview Trust Co

Glenview Trust Co boosted its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 138,508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 3,650 shares during the period. Glenview Trust Co’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $38,032,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the second quarter worth approximately $6,422,340,000. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 2nd quarter valued at $244,381,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,617,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,007,851,000 after purchasing an additional 51,712 shares during the period. Amundi increased its stake in Ecolab by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 2,412,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $641,609,000 after purchasing an additional 88,096 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Ecolab by 58.8% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,243,825 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $596,902,000 after purchasing an additional 830,726 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 17,862 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.14, for a total value of $5,003,860.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 72,932 shares in the company, valued at $20,431,170.48. This represents a 19.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Ecolab from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $345.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $337.00 target price on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $344.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $330.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $328.58.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $302.80 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $84.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.20, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $243.15 and a 12-month high of $309.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $282.01 and its 200 day moving average is $276.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The basic materials company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18. The business had revenue of $4.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 22.57% and a net margin of 11.99%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.07 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 8.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 15th were issued a dividend of $0.73 per share. This represents a $2.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 15th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 39.73%.

About Ecolab

Ecolab Inc is a global provider of water, hygiene, infection prevention and cleaning solutions for businesses and institutions. The company helps customers manage water and energy use, maintain sanitary operations, protect food supplies and comply with health and safety standards.

Ecolab serves customers across industries including food and beverage processing, hospitality, healthcare, life sciences, manufacturing, institutional facilities and energy. Its offerings include cleaning and sanitizing chemicals, water-treatment and process-management systems, pest-control services, kitchen and housekeeping products, infection-prevention programs, and related equipment, training and consulting services.

Founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory, the company has expanded from its original focus on cleaning products into a broad range of technology-enabled services and solutions.