167,308 Shares in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Bought by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 167,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,204,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned about 0.06% of Ecolab as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ECL. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in Ecolab by 14.2% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 7,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,834,000 after acquiring an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV bought a new stake in Ecolab during the third quarter valued at $420,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 3.5% during the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 1,406 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 11.9% during the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,512 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $641,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ecolab during the third quarter valued at about $549,000. Institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jennifer J. Bradway sold 856 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $267.37, for a total transaction of $228,868.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,911.80. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Larry L. Berger sold 10,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $266.95, for a total transaction of $2,898,543.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 15,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,202,860.80. This trade represents a 40.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 17,435 shares of company stock valued at $4,637,985 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of ECL stock opened at $250.78 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $217.05 and a 52-week high of $273.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 1.26. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $252.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $249.95. The company has a market capitalization of $70.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.98, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. Research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Ecolab Profile

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.