Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Purchased by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 4th, 2023

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 390.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,691 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,734 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $683,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 135.6% in the 4th quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the period. Beacon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 1,189.5% in the 4th quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the period. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 39.8% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Romano Brothers AND Company purchased a new position in Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth approximately $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ECL shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ecolab from $175.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America cut Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $170.00 to $162.00 in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Ecolab from $164.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price target on Ecolab from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Ecolab from $164.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $175.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ecolab news, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 4,404 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.95, for a total value of $717,631.80. Following the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL opened at $173.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 1.30. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $131.04 and a one year high of $179.76. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $162.56 and its 200-day moving average is $154.15.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 18.02% and a net margin of 7.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.95 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 21st were given a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 20th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.50%.

About Ecolab

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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.