Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Has $112.36 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Apr 13th, 2023

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 771,903 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,688 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.27% of Ecolab worth $112,358,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Compass Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Compass Capital Management Inc. now owns 294,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $42,889,000 after purchasing an additional 3,867 shares in the last quarter. ADE LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth $357,000. PFG Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 1,956 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 47.9% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 2,110 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Financial Mangement LLC boosted its stake in Ecolab by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 20,470 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,980,000 after buying an additional 870 shares in the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on ECL shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised Ecolab from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Ecolab from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on Ecolab from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 15th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ecolab from $164.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Ecolab in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $171.20.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $164.25 on Thursday. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.04 and a 1 year high of $185.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.30 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $46.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $159.12 and a 200-day moving average of $151.88.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.02. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.02% and a net margin of 7.69%. The company had revenue of $3.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.69 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 21st will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 20th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.50%.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 4,404 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.95, for a total transaction of $717,631.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,442 shares in the company, valued at $2,027,423.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Profile

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Ecolab, Inc engages in the provision of products and services in the field of water, hygiene, and energy. It operates through the following segments: Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, Global Energy & Life Science, and Other. The Global Industrial segment consists of the water, food and beverage, paper, and downstream operating segments.