National Bank of Canada FI Buys 14,264 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 27th, 2023

National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) by 55.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 40,060 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,264 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,631,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Ecolab by 3.0% during the first quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $679,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Ecolab by 11.2% during the first quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,047 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,001,000 after buying an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in Ecolab by 92.7% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 434,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $71,923,000 after buying an additional 209,029 shares in the last quarter. Country Club Bank GFN grew its stake in Ecolab by 5.0% during the first quarter. Country Club Bank GFN now owns 2,279 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elk River Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Ecolab by 6.1% during the first quarter. Elk River Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,892,000 after buying an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 34,450 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.48, for a total value of $5,976,386.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,201,899.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Christophe Beck sold 34,450 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $173.48, for a total value of $5,976,386.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 53,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,201,899.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Gail Peterson sold 934 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.00, for a total transaction of $163,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $274,225. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 67,050 shares of company stock worth $11,865,590 in the last quarter. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE ECL opened at $180.40 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $172.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $161.37. The firm has a market cap of $51.36 billion, a PE ratio of 44.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.00. Ecolab Inc. has a 1 year low of $131.04 and a 1 year high of $183.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 20th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 16th. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $167.00 to $188.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $179.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Finally, VNET Group restated a “maintains” rating on shares of Ecolab in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $177.57.

Ecolab Profile

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Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Global Industrial, Global Institutional & Specialty, and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences segments. 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.