Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Acquires 423 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 25th, 2023

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL – Free Report) by 1.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,652 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $6,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Ecolab by 0.7% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 9,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,552,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 4.5% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 1,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Ecolab by 13.3% during the first quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 545 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc boosted its position in Ecolab by 2.8% during the first quarter. Pine Haven Investment Counsel Inc now owns 2,447 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abbrea Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Abbrea Capital LLC now owns 7,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,282,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. 73.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Ecolab from $163.00 to $181.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Ecolab from $200.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Berenberg Bank began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Friday, September 1st. They set a “hold” rating and a $180.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Ecolab from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $193.93.

View Our Latest Stock Report on ECL

Insider Transactions at Ecolab

In other Ecolab news, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $183.73 per share, for a total transaction of $119,424.50. Following the purchase, the director now owns 15,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,768,994.83. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE ECL opened at $171.98 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $182.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.04. Ecolab Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.04 and a 12 month high of $191.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.02 billion, a PE ratio of 41.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.85 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.86 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 7.96% and a return on equity of 18.33%. Ecolab’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 5.09 EPS for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 19th will be given a dividend of $0.53 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 18th. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is presently 51.58%.

Ecolab Company Profile

(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.