Park National Corp OH Sells 5,962 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Park National Corp OH lessened its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 8.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,962 shares during the quarter. Park National Corp OH’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $17,219,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 4th quarter worth about $749,000. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 84.3% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 13,415 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,098,000 after buying an additional 6,137 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 527.9% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 87,915 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,438,000 after buying an additional 73,913 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in Ecolab by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 1,128,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,933,000 after acquiring an additional 62,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 50.9% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on Ecolab from $288.00 to $276.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Ecolab from $270.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Stifel Nicolaus raised shares of Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $234.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $267.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,014,586.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Victoria Reich sold 393 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $98,250.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,010,250. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $253.97 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $245.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $237.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $256.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.53 billion, a PE ratio of 47.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a return on equity of 21.65% and a net margin of 10.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

About Ecolab

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