Essex Financial Services Inc. Purchases New Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Essex Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,118 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Riverwater Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Riverwater Partners LLC now owns 1,654 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $328,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $704,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Eagle Bluffs Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $916,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its position in Ecolab by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 6,805 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,350,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GS Investments Inc. increased its holdings in Ecolab by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. GS Investments Inc. now owns 16,041 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,717,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James increased their target price on Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $236.88.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $227.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $65.04 billion, a PE ratio of 42.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $224.62 and a 200-day moving average of $202.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.41 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $156.72 and a one year high of $231.86.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.