Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC Makes New $200,000 Investment in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Posted by on May 15th, 2023

Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,374 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Country Club Bank GFN raised its position in Ecolab by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Country Club Bank GFN now owns 2,170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.7% during the third quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,535 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Arlington Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 20.8% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Partners LLC now owns 401 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 11,755 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,711,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montecito Bank & Trust grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust now owns 7,037 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,024,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other news, EVP Angela M. Busch sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $525,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,680 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,444,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, EVP Angela M. Busch sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total value of $525,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,444,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas J. Alfano sold 1,098 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $192,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 9,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,700,475. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 42,952 shares of company stock worth $7,411,168. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of ECL stock opened at $174.19 on Monday. Ecolab Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.04 and a twelve month high of $179.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $49.60 billion, a PE ratio of 43.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $164.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $155.49.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Ecolab had a net margin of 7.96% and a return on equity of 18.05%. The firm had revenue of $3.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 20th will be given a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 16th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is currently 52.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ECL. 92 Resources reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of Ecolab in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $155.00 to $185.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $182.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $175.00 to $195.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $178.20.

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Ecolab (NYSE:ECL)

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