UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Invests $261,000 in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ECL. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Ecolab by 150.0% in the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Ecolab from $211.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $227.00 to $234.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $225.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Barclays raised Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Ecolab from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $236.88.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE ECL traded up $3.97 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $232.92. 1,202,286 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,210,369. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Ecolab Inc. has a 1-year low of $156.72 and a 1-year high of $233.30. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $224.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $203.99. The company has a market cap of $66.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.01% and a return on equity of 20.56%. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 42.22%.

Ecolab 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.