US Bancorp DE Decreases Stock Holdings in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

US Bancorp DE reduced its stake in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,040,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 28,807 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE owned 0.37% of Ecolab worth $263,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Forum Financial Management LP increased its stake in Ecolab by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 2,980 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Ecolab by 5.0% in the first quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC now owns 902 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $229,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ecolab by 2.0% in the first quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $525,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,774 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $703,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

Ecolab stock opened at $261.75 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $266.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $256.28. Ecolab Inc. has a 52 week low of $221.62 and a 52 week high of $274.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.95, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $4.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.03 billion. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.59% and a return on equity of 22.52%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 17th were paid a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 17th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ECL shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $307.00 to $303.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer raised shares of Ecolab to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised shares of Ecolab from an “underperform” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Baird R W raised Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $290.71.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David Maclennan purchased 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $251.75 per share, for a total transaction of $125,875.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 19,465 shares in the company, valued at $4,900,313.75. This trade represents a 2.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.04% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.