Signaturefd LLC Has $853,000 Position in Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 197 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Ecolab were worth $853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. abrdn plc raised its position in shares of Ecolab by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,001,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $198,599,000 after acquiring an additional 110,835 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ecolab during the 4th quarter worth about $261,000. Cambridge Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Trust Co. now owns 96,506 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,142,000 after buying an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in Ecolab by 125.8% in the fourth quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ecolab by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 39,135 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,762,000 after purchasing an additional 995 shares during the last quarter. 74.91% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ecolab Stock Performance

ECL stock opened at $219.31 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $223.67 and a 200-day moving average of $199.93. The firm has a market cap of $62.70 billion, a PE ratio of 45.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.10. Ecolab Inc. has a 12-month low of $156.72 and a 12-month high of $231.86. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 19th were paid a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 18th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Ecolab’s payout ratio is 47.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on ECL shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Ecolab from $212.00 to $227.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Barclays raised shares of Ecolab from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $225.00 to $260.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Ecolab from $184.00 to $232.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Ecolab from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Ecolab from $193.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Ecolab currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $230.47.

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.