OLD National Bancorp IN Decreases Stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

OLD National Bancorp IN reduced its holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,508 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 958 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,875,434,000 after buying an additional 387,545 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Ecolab by 4.7% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $470,078,000 after purchasing an additional 123,572 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Ecolab by 1.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $432,945,000 after purchasing an additional 41,545 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Ecolab by 3.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,224,000 after purchasing an additional 85,985 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Ecolab by 2.3% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,173,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $368,142,000 after purchasing an additional 48,375 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $219.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $231.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $62.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $223.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $199.93.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The company had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $237.00 to $256.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $238.00 price target on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $230.47.

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.