Cavalier Investments LLC Acquires 144 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Cavalier Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,724 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Cavalier Investments LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Coastline Trust Co bought a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in Ecolab by 62.0% during the 3rd quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 149 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in Ecolab during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 74.91% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on ECL shares. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $257.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $306.00 to $294.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $270.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $287.00.

Ecolab Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:ECL opened at $265.64 on Wednesday. Ecolab Inc. has a one year low of $217.05 and a one year high of $268.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $245.43 and a 200-day moving average of $248.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.26 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $75.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.14.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $1.81. Ecolab had a net margin of 13.42% and a return on equity of 22.50%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ecolab Inc. will post 7.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 18th. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.23%.

Insider Activity at Ecolab

In other news, Director David Maclennan acquired 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $264.51 per share, for a total transaction of $105,804.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,767 shares in the company, valued at $4,964,059.17. This trade represents a 2.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Machiel Duijser sold 5,721 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.04, for a total transaction of $1,510,572.84. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 3,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $996,486.96. This represents a 60.25 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.50% of the company’s stock.

Ecolab Company 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.