Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $48.55 Million Stock Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Aug 19th, 2023

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Free Report) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 293,303 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 1,989 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Ecolab worth $48,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ECL. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Robbins Farley bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 62.5% in the 4th quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Almanack Investment Partners LLC. bought a new stake in Ecolab in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Clear Street Markets LLC lifted its position in Ecolab by 25,000.0% in the 4th quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 251 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $177.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. TheStreet raised shares of Ecolab from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $208.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Ecolab in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $164.00 to $182.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ecolab presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $192.43.

View Our Latest Report on ECL

Ecolab Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $179.35 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $183.96 and its 200-day moving average is $170.93. The stock has a market cap of $51.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.64, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.02. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.04 and a 52-week high of $191.41.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.03. Ecolab had a net margin of 7.96% and a return on equity of 18.33%. The company had revenue of $3.85 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.86 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 19th will be paid a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 18th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.18%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.58%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In related news, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 2,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.33, for a total value of $435,192.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 23,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,347,386.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan bought 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $183.73 per share, with a total value of $119,424.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 15,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,768,994.83. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Arthur J. Higgins sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.33, for a total transaction of $435,192.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,975 shares in the company, valued at $4,347,386.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,568 shares of company stock worth $5,008,604. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

About Ecolab

(Free Report)

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.