Brighton Jones LLC Boosts Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 69 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $705,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab in the third quarter worth $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 208 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their price target on Ecolab from $256.00 to $257.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Piper Sandler started 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. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $233.65.

Ecolab Stock Performance

NYSE ECL opened at $224.98 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $224.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $202.37. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $231.86. The company has a market cap of $64.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 42.22%.

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.