Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) Shares Bought by Syon Capital LLC

Syon Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $365,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ecolab by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,877,417 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,875,434,000 after purchasing an additional 387,545 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 4.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,774,960 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $470,078,000 after purchasing an additional 123,572 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Ecolab by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,555,758 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $432,945,000 after acquiring an additional 41,545 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 3.9% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,294,838 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $391,224,000 after purchasing an additional 85,985 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ecolab by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,173,210 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $368,142,000 after buying an additional 48,375 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on ECL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Ecolab in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Ecolab from $230.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $230.47.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL opened at $221.10 on Friday. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $223.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $201.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 8.96% and a return on equity of 19.36%. The firm had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 19th were issued a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.60%.

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.