Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Increases Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 15.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,576 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 754 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $1,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 1,643 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 2,961 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 23.6% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 67,548 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,125,000 after purchasing an additional 12,908 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $251,000. Finally, Perkins Coie Trust Co increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 12,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,086,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ECL shares. Redburn Atlantic downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Argus raised shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.13.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Ecolab stock opened at $266.44 on Tuesday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $220.96 and a 1 year high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a market capitalization of $75.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.10, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average is $249.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $249.58.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.50. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. The company had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.71 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. Ecolab’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 17th. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 35.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David Maclennan bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $251.75 per share, with a total value of $125,875.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 19,465 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,900,313.75. The trade was a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.