UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Buys Shares of 1,317 Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,317 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ECL. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. First Personal Financial Services bought a new position in Ecolab in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 150.0% during the 4th quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ecolab in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.91% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ECL traded up $3.97 on Tuesday, reaching $232.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,202,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,210,369. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $224.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $203.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.41. Ecolab Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.72 and a 52-week high of $233.30. The company has a market cap of $66.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.41, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.09.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. Ecolab had a return on equity of 20.56% and a net margin of 10.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ECL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ecolab from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Ecolab from $232.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Mizuho raised shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $216.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $260.00 price target on the stock. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $236.88.

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.